Partha names CPI(M), BJP leaders for seeking favours, Oppn dubs it baseless

Senior TMC leader Partha Chatterjee, who is in custody in connection with the alleged illegal recruitment in government and aided schools in West Bengal, Thursday slammed opposition parties for questioning his credentials and claimed they had recommended to him candidates for employment in jobs by the School Service Commission (SSC).

Chatterjee also asserted that he had declined their request.

The opposition BJP and CPI(M) dubbed his claim as baseless and politically motivated.

Chatterjee was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for his alleged involvement in the SSC scam in July last year. He is now in CBI custody in the same case.

Those who are lecturing me today should first check their own credentials," he lashed out at the BJP and CPI(M).

"Sujan Chakraborty(CPI-M), Suvendu Adhikari and Dilip Ghosh (both BJP) came to me and recommended a few names. But I declined. I told them I could not keep such unethical requests," the former minister claimed while talking to reporters when entering Alipore court, where he was produced during the day.

"I was not in charge of recruitment. Please go through the records of 2012 ... Those who are themselves tainted are trying to malign me, he said.

TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh in a tweet nearly half an hour before Chatterjee's remarks wondered whether the two opposition parties' leaders had sought favours from him and that the central agencies must probe this angle.

After his remark, Ghosh said the allegations must be looked into since it were made by a former state education minister.

When the former education minister is taking names, then the probe agency must look into it, he asserted.

Both BJP and the CPI (M) dubbed the allegations as "baseless" and a desperate attempt to divert attention.

The allegations are baseless. I was not even in politics in 2012. I joined politics only in 2014. Maybe, Partha Chatterjee after spending so many months in prison has lost his mental balance and is trying to pin the blame on others, Ghosh, who is the BJP national vice-president, said.

CPI(M) central committee member Sujan Chakraborty echoing his party colleague said, The allegations are baseless and are a desperate attempt to malign others. Why did he not reveal this information for so long? This proves that the TMC is now using tricks to divert attention from the real issue. Let them prove their allegations, he added.