Partha Chatterjee suspended from TMC after being sacked from cabinet

Kolkata: Arrested TMC leader Partha Chatterjee will remain suspended from the party till the investigation into a school recruitment scam is underway, the party’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee said on Thursday.

Chatterjee has been removed from all party posts, he said.

Banerjee, following a meeting of the party’s disciplinary committee, also said that doors of TMC would be opened for Chatterjee only if he is proven innocent.

Chatterjee was TMC’s secretary general for nearly two decades and was appointed the party’s national vice-president earlier this year.

“It has been decided that Partha Chatterjee will be removed from all party posts. He will remain suspended from the party till the time the investigation is underway. We demand that the investigation be completed within a limited time frame. The TMC will not support anyone found to be involved in corruption,” Banerjee said.

Earlier in the day, Chatterjee was removed as minister from the West Bengal cabinet.The ED arrested Chatterjee on July 23 in connection with its investigation into alleged irregularities in the recruitment drive by School Service Commission (SSC).

The central agency has also arrested Chatterjee’s close associate Arpita Mukherjee, and seized crores of rupees in cash from her residences in different parts of the city.

Following his removal as cabinet minister, Partha Chatterjee now has also been suspended as a member of the Trinamool Congress Party (TMC), on Thursday.

Partha Chatterjee will remain suspended from the party till the investigation into a school recruitment scam is underway, the party’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee said.

Chatterjee has been removed from all party posts, he said.

Banerjee, following a meeting of the party’s disciplinary committee, also said that doors of TMC would be opened for Chatterjee only if he is proven innocent.

Chatterjee was TMC’s secretary general for nearly two decades and was appointed the party’s national vice-president earlier this year.

After Arpita Mukherjee’s confession to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials regarding the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) scam, chief minister Mamata Banerjee sacked minister Partha Chatterjee from his position and relieved him of all his duties.

The decision was taken after a meeting of Trinamool Congress leaders who demanded the sacking of the secretary-general.

In an official statement, chief minister Mamata Banerjee said, “I have removed Partha Chatterjee as a minister. My party takes strict action. There are many plannings behind it but I don’t want to go into details.”

Earlier, many TMC leaders including the party’s state general secretary Kunal Ghosh had demanded the expulsion of Chatterjee.

“He (Partha Chatterjee) is saying why he would quit as minister. Why is he not saying in the public domain that he is innocent and has no relation with Arpita Mukherjee? What is stopping him from doing that? I have full faith in Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee, and I think they will take the appropriate decision,” Ghosh said.

The comment came amid the opposition BJP and CPI(M)’s attack on the TMC for not taking any action against Chatterjee even as huge amounts of cash were recovered from properties linked to him.

Chatterjee’s close aid, Arpita Mukherjee, from whose apartment an exhaustive amount of money and gold jewellery was found during a raid by the Enforcement Directorate, had confessed to the officials that her house was used as a store room to stack up illegal money.

West Bengal SSC Exam Scam

In 2014, when Chatterjee was the state education minister, the West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC) issued a notification issued notification for government teachers’ posts. As the recruitment process began in 2016, there were many petitions filed in the Calcutta high court alleging irregularities in the process.

The petitioners alleged that those who had received fewer marks in the  State Level Selection Test (SLST) were on the merit list and received appointment letters.