West Bengal (The Stellar News): On Thursday, Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader and West Bengal Minister, Partha Chatterjee has been removed from the State ministry, following his arrest in the school jobs scam case. The decision was taken at a Cabinet meeting, chaired by Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee.
The meeting was called amid growing rumpus to remove Commerce and Industries Department minister Chatterjee from all posts in the party and the ministry.
Mamata Banerjee, who had spoken tough on corruption following Chatterjee’s arrest, said she has relieved him from ministry as the TMC is a “strict party”.
“I have relieved him [Partha] because my party is a very strict party. If someone thinks that they can change perception [about TMC] by showing this, they are wrong,” she said. The in-charge for Commerce and Industry ministry has also been taken by her.
Earlier in the day, TMC general secretary and spokesperson Kunal Ghosh had called for Partha Chatterjee’s expulsion from the party and the ministry. “Partha Chatterjee should be removed from ministry and all party posts immediately. He should be expelled. If this statement is considered wrong, party has every right to remove me from all posts. I shall continue as a soldier of @AITCofficial”, he said in a tweet on Thursday.
Partha Chatterjee has been removed from the portfolios of Commerce and Industry, Parliamentary Affairs, Information Technology and Electronics, and Public Enterprises and Industrial Reconstruction in the state Cabinet.
The ED on Wednesday recovered another Rs 28.90 crore in cash, over 5 kg of gold and several documents from the second apartment of Partha Chatterjee’s aide. The agency had earlier found Rs 21.90 crore in cash, Rs 56 lakh in foreign currency and gold worth Rs 76 lakh from his aide’s house.
The CBI, as directed by the Calcutta High Court, is probing the alleged irregularities in the recruitment of Group-C and D staff as well as teachers in government-sponsored and aided schools on recommendations of the West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC). The ED is tracking the money trail in the scam.
Report: Deepanjot Kaur (Under Training)
