SC verdict After Bengal BJP chief Suvendu Adhikari demands Mamata's resignation

Kolkata, Apr 3 (PTI) Echoing the demand of West Bengal BJP chief Sukanta Majumdar for the resignation of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over the "plight" of around 26,000 teachers whose jobs were invalidated by the Supreme Court, Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari on Thursday said the entire responsibility for the situation falls on the CM, urging her to step down.
    At a press conference, Adhikari said the CM should take responsibility for the loss of jobs, as her party was responsible for the plight of thousands of deserving candidates who were victimised due to the "blatant effort by the state to give jobs to 6,000 undeserving candidates because of their closeness to some heavyweights in the ruling party and officials."
    "We demand the CM's resignation and arrest for her involvement in the issue," Adhikari, whose relations with Banerjee soured in 2020 on the eve of 2021 Assembly polls, said.
    Adhikari, once the trusted lieutenant of Banerjee, had left TMC in December 2020 and joined the saffron camp in the presence of Amit Shah.
    The senior BJP leader posted on X in Bengali: "The competent candidates have been sacrificed in the unscrupulous bid to shield the tainted, undeserving ones."
    "The SC had repeatedly given time to the SSC to differentiate between deserving and undeserving teachers. After the cabinet of this corruption-tainted government had created supernumerary posts illegally on May 5, 2022 , I visited the SSC office and demanded the commission prepare the list of deserving and undeserving teachers and submit it to the court. But the commission botched up," he said.
    We had told the commission if this was not done immediately, those who had rightfully got the jobs will be in trouble and their social prestige will be at stake, Adhikari said.
    Adhikari also accused former education minister Partha Chatterjee, who is currently lodged in jail in connection with irregularities in the teaching job recruitment process, of having abolished all the zonal offices of the SSC during his tenure.
    He alleged that Chatterjee vested all power and authority in the state education headquarters, Bikash Bhavan, and the SSC central office in Salt Lake.
    This move, he claimed, was aimed at facilitating irregular job appointments between 2018 and 2021.
    "Today, she mounted an attack on lawyer and CPI(M) leader Bikash Bhattacharjee, our party state president Sukanta Majumdar and me, overlooking that it was her cabinet which had passed resolution for 6,000 illegal appointments for those close to her party," Adhikari said.
    The apex court on Thursday invalidated the appointment of 25,753 teachers and other staff in state-run and state-aided schools in West Bengal, terming their selection process "vitiated and tainted".
    "The sole responsibility for this massive corruption in teacher recruitment lies with the failed Chief Minister of the state, @MamataOfficial. The Supreme Court's verdict has made it clear how, under Mamata Banerjee's rule, the merit of educated unemployed youth in West Bengal was sold in exchange for money!" Union Minister of State for Education Sukanta Majumdar said in a post on X.
    He also demanded that Banerjee should take full responsibility for this "huge corruption" and resign from the post of the chief minister.
    "No more forgiveness," he added.
    The apex court bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar upheld a Calcutta High Court verdict dated April 22, 2024, annulling the appointments.
    The bench fixed the West Bengal government's plea challenging the high court direction for a CBI probe for hearing on April 4.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)