KOLKATA: Former heavyweight minister in the Trinamool Congress cabinet in West Bengal Partha Chatterjee has been inducted into two standing committees in the state legislative assembly for the first time.
Chatterjee, a key accused in the teachers’ recruitment scam in the state, was granted bail by the court after spending more than three years in jail. He is a sitting Trinamool Congress MLA from the Behala West assembly constituency.
The party also suspended him after he was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probing the teachers’ recruitment scam in the state on July 23, 2022.
Sources in the state legislative assembly said that the former industry minister has been inducted as a member of the two standing committees on library and housing, fire services and disaster management affairs respectively.
Reacting to Chatterjee's induction into the two standing committees, Leader of the Opposition in the legislative assembly and BJP MLA Suvendu Adhikari said, "Tainted leaders like Partha Chatterjee are being awarded by the Trinamool Congress. We won’t be surprised if he is fielded by the party to contest the upcoming elections this time again. Our Union Home Minister Amit Shah had recently said, ‘Mamata Banerjee if you have guts then don’t give tickets to your corrupt party leaders in elections’."
Political observers felt that Chatterjee's induction into the committees is a clear indication that the ruling party leadership headed by Mamata Banerjee would field him again as a candidate in the elections.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED), which was also probing the case, had recovered more than Rs 50 crore in cash and 5 kg gold from the flat of Arpita Mukherjee, a close aide of Chatterjee on July 28, 2022.
Arpita was also arrested by the central investigating agency in connection with the cash for jobs case that had rocked the country.