'Education Dept Will Run From Naktala': Ex-TMC Leader's Aide Quotes Partha Chatterjee, Says He Had Become Reckless

Partha Chatterjee, who has been arrested by the ED in the teacher recruitment scam, lives in Naktala in south Kolkata.

File photo of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee with Partha Chatterjee

Source : Getty Images

Former TMC leader Sovan Chatterjee's aide Baisakhi Banerjee on Tuesday claimed that arrested Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee used to say that the education department would run from Naktala and not Harish Chatterjee Street, the residence of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Partha Chatterjee, who has been arrested by the ED in the teacher recruitment scam, resides in Naktala in south Kolkata.

Chatterjee was the Bengal education minister from 2014 to 2021 during which the alleged irregularities in teacher recruitment occurred. During that period, Baisakhi Banerjee was the general secretary of the Trinamool Teachers' Association and was in Chatterjee's close circle.

In an interview with ABP Ananda, Baisakhi claimed every post and transfer had a price tag when Partha Chatterjee was the Bengal education minister and the department was turning into "academic mafia".

"This side of Partha Chatterjee is unknown to many. I had cautioned him many times but he used to say that the education department will not run from Harish Chatterjee Street, but from Naktala," Baisakhi told ABP Ananda.

READ | Bengal SSC Scam: Partha Chatterjee's ‘Aide’ Arpita Mukherjee Ran 12 Shell Companies, Says ED

Baisakhi Banerjee, who had joined BJP along with Sovan Chatterjee only to resign last year during Bengal polls, also claimed that Partha boasted that he was Number 2 in the TMC after Mamata Banerjee and no one had the guts to tell him anything.

"He (Partha) told me not to do politics for money. He said that if women from noble houses like me enter politics, corruption will decrease. I told him that putting a price tag for each post needs to stop. He didn't listen. On the contrary, those who indulged in corruption were rewarded," Baisakhi further said.

Baisakhi said Partha Chatterjee's ego and arrogance of power was behind his fall and the minister had become reckless.

"He used to say that he was working with Mamata's seal. He had become reckless. He made an industry by condoning theft. It happened that once I was given the responsibility of SSC. Then some officials of the education department told Partha not to give the post to me as 'our income will stop'," Baisakhi said.

Baisakhi said she had once asked Sovan Chatterjee, who also served as the Mayor of Kolkata, about the money that came from this corruption. "I once asked Sovan, where does this money go? In the party fund? He said it was impossible as Didi (Mamata) will never ask anyone to steal," she said.

Chatterjee, 69, was arrested on July 23 by ED in connection with its investigation into the irregularities in the recruitment drives by the School Service Commission (SSC). The ED also seized around Rs 20 crore in cash from the house of Arpita Mukherjee, a close associate of Partha Chatterjee.