HC Cancels Appointment of 842 SSC Scam Candidates: WB Sees New Chapter of BJP, TMC War of Words

In a key judgment, the Calcutta High Court (HC) on Friday ordered the cancellation of appointment of 842 Group C employees in West Bengal schools. Earlier, the HC had cancelled 1,911 Group D and 618 secondary level teachers who were illegally appointed through the School Service Commission (SSC) scam.

With the list showing that relatives of several Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders got back-door entries, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has launched an attack on the ruling party.

THE DEFENCE

In its defence, the TMC has alleged that 55 of the 842 were recommended by BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari.

Kunal Ghosh, TMC spokesman and general secretary, said, “It is to be noted that 150 candidates were recruited as per the instructions of Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari. Of these, 55 lost their jobs as per the court’s directives. These candidates are from various areas, including Khejuri, Kanthi-1, Bhupatinagar, Patashpur, and Ramnagar. We demand that these 55 candidates, along with Adhikari, should be called in for investigation to determine how did they get these jobs?”

A considerable number of TMC leaders has been arrested in connection with the scam, including former education minister Partha Chatterjee and TMC MLA Manik Bhattacharya.

Feeling the pressure, the TMC has started to attack Adhikari, and even giving out names of candidates who have lost their jobs.

“One of the candidates on the list, Sanjib Sukul (sometimes referred to as Shukla), with serial number 569, is Adhikari’s close aide. The entire Medinipur knows who Sukul is. Who recruited Sukul? He should be interrogated to know who recruited him.”

THE RESPONSE

Reacting to the allegations, BJP spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said: “Go and ask the Chief Minister what happened? Our allegation was each MLA gave 70 names, she must know her Minister’s recommendation. The problem is they can’t forget that they lost Nandigram, which is why they are attacking Adhikari. They have Adhikari syndrome, they should see a doctor.”

Ahead of the panchayat elections, the allegations and counter will only increase.

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