Mamata sacks arrested leader Partha as minister, party suspends him
CM says will look after the portfolios held by Chatterjee for the time being
KOLKATA: Days after being arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the teachers’ recruitment scam case and after a huge stack of cash and gold was recovered from his close aide Arpita Mukherjee’s apartments, Partha Chatterjee was on Thursday relieved as Cabinet minister and suspended from all the party posts he held as a Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader till he is proved innocent in the court.
Chatterjee was TMC’s secretary general for nearly two decades and was appointed as the party’s national vicepresident earlier this year. He was minister-in-charge of the Department of Industry, Commerce and Enterprises, Department of Information Technology and Electronics, Department of Parliamentary Affairs and Department of Public Enterprises and Industrial Reconstruction.
“Partha Chatterjee, minister-in-charge, Department of Industry, Commerce and Enterprises, Department of Information Technology and Electronics, Department of Parliamentary Affairs and Department of Public Enterprises and Industrial Reconstruction, is hereby relieved of his duties as MIC of the aforesaid department with immediate effect,” an official order read.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee later said at a government event that she would look after the portfolios held by Chatterjee for the time being. » ‘These strict measures are being taken so that similar situations do not happen in future. We have zero tolerance for corruption. But we want the probe to be completed within a limited time frame’
» Chatterjee was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on July 23 in connection with its investigation into alleged irregularities in a recruitment drive by the SSC
In an apparent reference to the zero-tolerance policy the TMC has towards graft, the Trinamool supremo also stated that the party had put in a lot of effort to come to the position it now holds.
Taking a dig at the Opposition for crying foul over the issue, she said: “Partha Chatterjee has been relieved from the minister's charge. I will look after the Industry till the next Cabinet reshuffle. Our party is very strict and a lot of effort has been involved in creating our party. If somebody is thinking that you will change the perception of the government by spreading canards, you are wrong. There are a lot of games in all this but I don't want to say anything.”
Chatterjee's nameplate outside his chamber on the first floor of Nabanna was also removed soon after his removal.
Later in the day, following a meeting of TMC's disciplinary committee, party's national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, addressing the media, at Trinamool Bhavan, said till the investigation into the school job scam was underway, Partha Chatterjee would remain suspended from the party and all the posts he held in TMC, including editor of party's daily mouthpiece ‘Jago Bangla' and member of the disciplinary committee.
He also stated that doors of TMC would open for Chatterjee only if he was proven innocent. “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,” Abhishek said.
He added that the members of the disciplinary committee had met on July 23 after Chatterjee was arrested by the ED. The committee members had sent a written response to party chairperson Mamata Banerjee on the steps it was going to take.
“Trinamool is a party of the people, for the people and by the people and it will not compromise with anything that adversely affects the people or their betrayal. The party is the result of sustained movement of Mamata Banerjee against the CPI(M) and later the money power of the BJP. Action will be taken against anyone working against the interest of the people, however big he may be,” he maintained.
Abhishek said TMC was the only party “that can take action against a senior leader when the investigation is on. BJP has taken action against some of its leaders only after the court pronounced them guilty”.
He added: “We all want to know the source of the money recovered and who all are involved in the matter.”
Accusing the BJP-led government of influencing federal agencies, Abhishek reiterated: “We don't support the one-sided manner in which the Central agencies work… From which only one party benefits.”
He said TMC has zero tolerance for corruption. “There will be zero tolerance on corruption. We are putting this on record, the CM has decided at the administration level, we have decided at the party level,” he added.
Elaborating on the decision taken, he said: “The circumstantial evidence is such that we are giving the benefit of doubt to the people and not to our party's secretary general,” adding: “We are obliged to our people and not to any neta.”
He also stated that there will be no secretary-general till Mamata Banerjee takes a call regarding the same in the next working committee meeting. Demanding a time-bound probe, Abhishek said: “We want that the ED should complete the investigation within a year and submit the chargesheet. The Saradha case started in 2014, and in the past eight years chargesheet has not been filed. The BJP does not allow this as it wants to use the ED before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections or maybe ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections too.”
He further added: “I am not defending anyone… We will not let the guilty go unpunished… But there are questions that people still have in their minds…questions on demonetisation… the agencies should answer.”
Commenting on pictures of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee with Partha Chatterjee's aide Arpita Mukherjee, he said: “The Chief Minister inaugurates over 200 Puja pandals every year… Not possible to identify and scan everyone on stage.”
Replying to the question about BJP taking out rallies over the graft, Abhishek said: “BJP should be the last party to talk on ethics, corruption, values and honesty. What steps have the party taken against Nirmala Sitharaman when Nirav Modi left the country.”
He criticised the double standard of the Central agencies and without naming anyone he alleged “see what they have done against a BJP leader who was seen taking money in a money laundering case. Has he been spared just because he has now joined the BJP”.
The Central agency has also arrested Chatterjee's close associate Arpita Mukherjee, and seized crores of rupees from her houses in different parts of the city.