TMC knew of school jobs scam: Kunal

Kolkata: After his removal from the post of the TMC’s West Bengal general secretary, Kunal Ghosh claimed that the party was aware of the school recruitment scam even before the 2021 Assembly polls.

The damaging statement from Ghosh, considered close to TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, came amidst the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, as the SSC scam has escalated into a significant issue in the polls.

Ghosh was removed from the post hours after he shared a stage with a BJP Lok Sabha candidate and praised him on Wednesday.

“The party was well aware of the fact that largescale 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, “he said in an interview with Bengali news channel ABP Ananda.

Ghosh, who has been seeking more prominence for next-generation leaders and has been at loggerheads with the old guards in the TMC, said it was due to this “information about large-scale corruption that 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.

Ghosh’s remarks came a week after the Calcutta High Court declared the recruitment process of the State Level Selection Test2016 (SLST) in West Bengal government-sponsored and aided schools as “null and void, “ordering the cancellation of all appointments made through it.

Around 26,000 people have lost jobs following the court order. The TMC leadership had maintained that the party was not aware of the scam until the arrest of Chatterjee took place in 2022.