I am a victim of conspiracy: Partha on removal as min and suspension from party

Former Trinamool Congress Minister Partha Chatterjee blamed 'conspiracy' for his summary removal from the West Bengal cabinet and suspension from the party, after the Enforcement Directorate arrested the once de facto 'number two' in the ministry for his alleged role in a teachers' recruitment scam.

"I am a victim of conspiracy," Chatterjee said, when asked about his removal as a minister and from the party posts this morning while being brought to the ESI hospital on the southern outskirts of the metropolis for a medical check-up.

He left sufficient room for speculation by leaving unanswered the question about the protagonists behind the alleged conspiracy. "You will come to know who did the conspiracy," Chatterjee said to the waiting media contingent as he was wheeled into the state-run hospital.


Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury claimed that the Abhishek Banerjee group within the Trinamool is happy with Chatterjee's removal from various party posts and the cabinet. Abhishek, a federal lawmaker and nephew of the chief minister Mamata Banerjee, was supposedly at the vanguard of the initiative Thursday to strip Chatterjee of party and state roles. Chatterjee was dropped from the state cabinet on Thursday, six days after his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). Trinamool also sacked him as party secretary general and all other posts held by him following his alleged connection with the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) recruitment scam.

Chatterjee has been sacked as secretary general, national vice-president, national working committee member and editor of party mouthpiece 'Jago Bangla'," Abhishek Banerjee said Thursday. Chatterjee was also a disciplinary committee member, a job he has now lost.

Trinamool Congress, meanwhile, has lashed out at Chatterjee, saying he should have claimed his innocence earlier.