Former state cabinet minister Partha Chatterjee responded on Monday to BJP leaders’ claims that the Trinamool Congress (TMC) will lose power in Wet Bengal by the “December deadline” by asserting that no one could harm the TMC in any way.
He made this statement while being transported to a CBI court in Alipore, Kolkata, in relation to the school jobs scam, in which he and other defendants are accused.
Sukanto Majumdar, the state BJP president, and opposition leader in the assembly Suvendhu Adhikari have stated on numerous times that the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC administration will not continue until December this year.
Chatterjee and the other six arrested suspects were presented in court on Monday, and their judicial detention was extended till December 22. Along with certain intermediaries, the other defendants include former West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE) chairman Kalyanmoy Ganguly, former vice chancellor of North Bengal University Subiresh Bhattacharya, and former chief adviser SP Sinha of the School Service Commission (SSC).
The CBI further charged Chatterjee with taking part in a “bigger conspiracy” to engage in corruption in the hiring of teachers.
Partha questioned the agency’s definition of a “bigger conspiracy” in this context. He said, “What is the definition of a conspiracy?”
Following his detention, the TMC administration removed Chatterjee, who held the education portfolio when the alleged scam allegedly occurred starting in 2014, from his position as minister.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) also detained his close associate Arpita Mukherjee after seizing approximately Rs 50 crore in cash from her apartments.
