Trinamool Congress leader Kunal Ghosh on Thursday claimed that Mamata Banerjee-led party was aware of the West Bengal school recruitment scam even before the 2021 assembly elections.
Kunal Ghosh’s statement comes a day after the TMC removed him from the post of party state general secretary, shortly after he shared a stage with Bharatiya Janata Party Lok Sabha candidate Tapas Roy and praised him.
Speaking to a Bengali news channel ‘ABP Ananda’, Kunal Ghosh, who was considered close to TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, said, “The party was well aware of the fact that large-scale corruption and extortion in lieu of jobs was taking place in the school education department. The party was aware of it even before the 2021 assembly polls.”
The TMC leader added that it was “due to this information about large-scale corruption that TMC leader Partha Chatterjee was shifted to the industry department from the education ministry after the party returned to power for the third consecutive term in 2021.”
The school recruitment scam relates to bribes ranging from ₹5 lakh to ₹15 lakh, which were allegedly collected by the ruling TMC leaders for teachers who failed the selection tests.
Several TMC leaders, including TMC MLAs Manik Bhattacharya and Jiban Krishna Saha, were arrested by the CBI for their alleged involvement in the scam. However, the party has maintained that it was unaware of the scam till the arrest of Partha Chatterjee in 2022.
Last week, the Calcutta high court declared the recruitment process of the State Level Selection Test-2016 (SLST) in West Bengal government-sponsored and aided schools as “null and void”, ordering the cancellation of all appointments made through it. Following this, around 26,000 people lost their jobs.
Kunal Ghosh’s removal from party post
On Wednesday, the TMC removed Kunal Ghosh from the post of state general secretary due to his recent statements that “did not align” with the party. According to some party leaders, the action against Kunal Ghosh was taken because he made some comments in public against two Lok Sabha MPs and candidates- famous actor Deepak Adhikari, who represents Ghatal, and Sudip Bandopadhyay from the Kolkata North seat.
“Recently, Mr. Kunal Ghosh has been expressing views that do not align with those of the party. It is important to clarify that these are his personal opinions and should not be attributed to the party. Only statements issued from AITC headquarters should be considered the official position of the party,” TMC MP Derek O’Brien said in a statement.
He added, “Mr. Ghosh was previously relieved from his role as party spokesperson. Now, he has been removed from the position of General Secretary of the state organization. We urge all media outlets not to conflate his views with those of the party, as doing so may necessitate legal action.”
(With inputs from agencies)
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