TMC leader Kunal Ghosh, who was removed from the TMC state general secretary post, hit out at Partha Chatterjee, saying he did not need a ‘character certificate’ from the jailed minister.
Days before West Bengal votes in the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections on May 7, the controversy surrounding Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Kunal Ghosh refused to die down with former state education minister Partha Chatterjee saying on Friday that he “should have been expelled earlier”. Ghosh hit back, calling Chatterjee “an extortionist and corrupt leader”.
“He [Ghosh] is more harmful than any Opposition leader. I had said that earlier…he should have been expelled from the party immediately,” Chatterjee, an accused in the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) recruitment scam, said on Friday while being produced before a Kolkata court.
Ghosh hit out at Chatterjee, saying, “Partha Chatterjee’s statement indicates I am on the right path. If Partha Chatterjee praised me, I would be concerned that there is something wrong. He is a heinous extortionist and corrupt leader. Rs 50 crore was recovered from his girlfriend’s flat and he is giving me a character certificate. I am proud that a man like Partha Chatterjee is criticising me.”
Earlier this week, the TMC removed Ghosh as its state general secretary after he shared the stage with former TMC MLA-turned-BJP Lok Sabha candidate Tapas Roy and praised him. He was also removed from the party spokesperson post and the TMC’s list of campaigners for the Lok Sabha elections.
Ghosh has been openly critical of the TMC this week, saying that the party was aware of the corruption in the school education department. He also attacked Lok Sabha candidate and TMC’s parliamentary party leader Sudip Banerjee.
Ghosh had alleged that apart from Chatterjee, another state minister was involved in the alleged school jobs scam. “The party was well aware of the fact that large-scale 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 had said on Wednesday.
On Friday, Ghosh clarified that he would continue as a TMC worker.
Meanwhile, he also found support from veteran party leader and former Rajya Sabha MP Santanu Sen and state Education Minister Bratya Basu who said that his “contribution to the party cannot be forgotten”.