A day after Sandeshkhali strongman Sheikh Shahjahan was arrested in connection with the mob attack on an Enforcement Directorate (ED) team, Trinamool Congress suspended him from the party for six years.

In a press meet to announce the move, the party’s leaders slammed the BJP and dared it to act against tainted leaders such as former wrestling boss Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.

Senior party leader Derek O’Brien said the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress stands by the people and takes “no nonsense, whoever you are”. “If you have hurt or are alleged to have hurt the people, we walk the talk,” he said.

Bengal minister Bratya Basu said questioned why the BJP has not acted against leaders such as Himanta Biswa Sarma despite serious allegations against them. “The BJP is not Trinamool Congress that it will suspend a leader as soon as he is arrested. Because the other name of BJP is washing machine. So if someone from our party is suspended and then seen in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rally, we won’t be surprised,” he said.

The Trinamool leader said that the Enforcement Directorate had told Calcutta High Court to stop Bengal police from arresting Sheikh Shahjahan, who was on the run for 55 days. “They wanted to keep the Sandeshkhali issue alive till the Prime Minister’s Bengal trip. It was after our leader Abhishek Banerjee’s remark and the court’s clarification that we went ahead and arrested Sheikh Shahjahan,” the minister said. “Only Trinamool Congress can set such an example.”

The minister says the people must remember the example of “raj dharma” set by Ms Banerjee.