West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh dared Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday to name the CBI officers, who had allegedly threatened TMC leaders to join the saffron camp.

Addressing the Martyrs' Day rally here on Sunday, Banerjee, who is also the Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo, alleged that central agencies were threatening leaders and elected representatives of her party to “get in touch” with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) or face a jail term in chit fund scams.

She, however, did not name any central agency.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) are separately probing two multi-crore-rupee Ponzi scheme cases in West Bengal.

Ghosh said the chief minister was “trying to malign the CBI” as she was afraid of the investigations being conducted into the chit fund scams.

“Today, she (Banerjee) alleged that CBI officers had asked her party workers to get in touch with the BJP or face imprisonment in connection with the chit fund scams. I challenge her to name the CBI officers, who threatened her party leaders.

“If she is unable to name any officer, she should refrain from making baseless allegations,” he said at a press conference here.

Reacting to Banerjee's allegation that the BJP was luring TMC MLAs with Rs two crore in cash and a petrol pump, Ghosh said none of them, not even the chief minister, had such a high “market value”.

Banerjee alleged on Sunday that the saffron party was trying to “replicate Karnataka's horse-trading model” in Bengal by offering Rs two crore in cash and a petrol pump each to her party MLAs.

“None of the TMC MLAs has such a high market value. Even if they stand idle on the road, no one would be interested in buying them. Not even Banerjee has such a high market value,” the state BJP chief said.

Responding to the TMC supremo's statement that a probe would be ordered to ascertain if state BJP leaders were taking commissions to extend the benefits of the Centre's Ujjwala scheme to the beneficiaries, he said the allegation was bereft of truth.

“She has been saying this for the last few years. Why didn't she take any action in the matter all this while? No BJP leader is involved in any scam. Paying 'cut' money to TMC leaders, however, has become a way of life in Bengal,” Ghosh asserted.

He claimed that the rally organised by the TMC annually witnessed the lowest turnout in its history this year.