WBSSC scam: Errant will be punished, asserts Mamata Banerjee

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday once again made it clear that she has no connection with the arrest of state Commerce and Industries minister and Trinamool Congress Secretary General, Partha Chatterjee by Enforcement Directorate in connection with the multi-crore West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) recruitment scam.

"Some mistakes are bound to happen while running a big organisation. If anyone makes a mistake and it is legally proved, the errant will be punished," she said at a function of Titagarh Wagons Limited at Uttarpara in Hooghly district.

However, she also went on to launch a scathing attack against the Union government on the mode of operations of the ED in the matter.

"On July 1, we organised a mega rally at Kolkata which witnessed a record turnout. The ED operations started from 5 a.m. on the very next day. the ED can surely act. But was the necessity of that action early in the morning. This was a deliberate ploy to malign the image of my government by using the agencies," Banerjee said.

She also claimed that the Union government and BJP are using the central agencies to topple the democratically elected state government in West Bengal just as they did in case of Maharashtra.

"But in West Bengal, that effort will not succeed. BJP will have to confront the Royal Bengal tiger before they try to grab power through unfair means," the Chief Minister said.

She said that the approach of the current Union government is worse than that of the British in pre-independent India. "But all I can say right now is that BJP will not be able to regain power in India in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. I do not know how it will happen. But surely BJP will not be back in power in 2024," she said.

Banerjee also said that the Union government is trying to divert the attention of the people from all the development works undertaken by the state government. "They know that they will not be able to counter Trinamool Congress politically and so they are letting loose the central agencies. Even my Transport Minister, Firhad Hakim, was telling me that ED officials are regularly coming to the locality where he stays," the Chief Minister said.