Fresh battle lines were drawn today by the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal against the BJP with lawmaker Abhishek Banerjee, who is also chief minister Mamata Banerjee's nephew, launching a somewhat rare but certainly blistering attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Recalling the jailing of a Trinamool minister "for sharing the stage with Sudipto Sen, chief of the chit fund company, Saradha", Mr Banerjee said, "How many times was Nirav Modi seen with India's prime minister? How many times was Babool Supriyo seen with Gautam Kundu? If you can jail Madan Mitra, then why are BJP leaders and ministers not behind bars?"

Madan Mitra was West Bengal's transport minister arrested for links to the Saradha scam. He is now out on bail.

Gautam Kundu was the head of another chit fund, Rose Valley. He is still in jail. Several other Trinamool lawmakers were also arrested in the multi-crore rupee chit fund scam in 2013 that left lakhs of small investors bankrupt overnight.