Kolkata:

The West Bengal unit of the BJP has set up a dedicated legal support website and a helpline number to assist “genuine” candidates affected by the alleged school jobs scam, a senior party leader said on Thursday.

The helpline number and the portal were made public on Wednesday night, days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked the state unit of the BJP to establish a legal cell for the “genuine” candidates.

“As per the instructions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, West Bengal BJP is duty-bound to stand beside the eligible candidates who were affected due to the TMC’s illegal recruitment of some people,” BJP spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said.

The legal support website is ‘bjplegalsupport.org’ and helpline number is 9150056618, he said.

“Once a complaint is received through the helpline number or the website, we will speak to the candidate concerned and seek the status of his or her case, following which we will provide legal help accordingly,” he said.

While addressing election rallies in the state on Friday, PM Modi had issued a direction to the state BJP in a bid to address grievances stemming from the scam and assured of support to genuine candidates who were affected.

The Calcutta High Court had on April 22 declared the recruitment process of the State Level Selection Test-2016 (SLST) in West Bengal government-sponsored and aided schools as “null and void”, ordering the cancellation of all appointments made through it. Around 26,000 people lost their jobs following the court order.

The Supreme Court, however, on Tuesday stayed the Calcutta High Court order invalidating the appointment of 25,753 teachers and non-teaching staffers made by the state’s School Service Commission (SSC) in state-run and aided schools.

A bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, however, permitted the CBI to continue with its investigation and probe even members of the state cabinet but asked the agency not to take any precipitate action like arresting a suspect.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had accused the BJP of “hatching the conspiracy” to snatch away the school jobs and thanked the top court for staying the Calcutta High Court order.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Kolkata:

After his removal from the post of the TMC’s West Bengal general secretary, Kunal Ghosh revealed that the Trinamool was aware of the school recruitment scam even before the 2021 assembly polls.

The damaging statement from Kunal Ghosh, considered close to TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, came amidst the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, as the SSC scam has escalated into a significant issue in the polls.

Mr Ghosh was removed from the post hours after he shared a stage with a BJP Lok Sabha candidate and praised him on Wednesday.

“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 said in an interview with Bengali news channel ABP Ananda.

Kunal Ghosh, who has been seeking more prominence for next-generation leaders and has been at loggerheads with the old guards in the TMC, said it was due to this “information about large-scale corruption that Partha Chatterjee was shifted to the industry department from the education ministry after the party returned to power for the third consecutive term in 2021.

Mr Ghosh’s remarks came a week after the Calcutta High Court declared the recruitment process of the State Level Selection Test-2016 (SLST) in West Bengal government-sponsored and aided schools as “null and void,” ordering the cancellation of all appointments made through it.

Around 26,000 people have lost jobs following the court order. The TMC leadership had maintained that the party was not aware of the scam until the arrest of Chatterjee took place in 2022.

TMC leader Partha Chatterjee was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in July 2022 for his alleged involvement in the SSC scam. Chatterjee was shown the door by the party following his arrest. He was also removed from the state cabinet.

Several TMC leaders and TMC MLA Manik Bhattacharya and Jiban Krishna Saha were arrested by the CBI for their alleged involvement in the scam.
 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)