by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group
Five years back, Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Mamata Banerjee stormed to power in West Bengal wearing her trademark Hawaii flip-flop, as a symbol of simplicity in the country's then simmering with allegations of corruption on a humongous scale. Thanks to the 2G scam and 'coalgate', booties in trillions of rupees had just become commonplace. Mamata did not have to make much effort to appear saintly, until the Saradha chit fund scandal began unfolding and one of her ministers, known as her 'bagman', went to jail. Then came a series of 'sting' videos of her party and cabinet bigwigs grabbing for wads of currencies offered to them for promise to pull strings on bribe-givers' behalf.
