Bengal cabinet reshuffle: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday announced that the state cabinet reshuffle will take place on Wednesday, and around 4 to 5 new faces will be introduced. She refuted reports claiming the entire ministry will be reshuffled. "Many of them are writing a lot. We don't have a plan to dissolve the whole ministry & form a new one. Yes, there will be a reshuffle," she said.
Her announcement came soon after minister Partha Chatterjee was relieved from all his ministerial duties in the West Bengal cabinet due to his involvement in the SSC recruitment scam. "We lost ministers Subrata Mukherjee, Sadhan Pande. Partha is in jail so all their work has to be done. Not possible for me to handle alone," Mamata said today.
Moreover, Banerjee also announced that 7 new districts will be added to the state of West Bengal. "Earlier there were 23 districts in Bengal now it has been increased to 30. The 7 new districts include - Sunderban, Ichhemati, Ranaghat, Bishnupur, Jangipur, Behrampur and one more district will be named Basirhat," she said.
The TMC leadership took exception to Partha Chatterjee's comments, contending that Chatterjee is himself responsible for his fate.
"Why was he silent for the last few days after his arrest? He has every right to approach the court and prove his innocence. The party has nothing to do with this scam. We do not wish to comment on his remarks regularly," TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh said.
Meanwhile, arrested Partha Chatterjee, who is at the centre of a multi-crore school job scam, claimed that the money recovered during Enforcement Directorate (ED) raids does not belong to him, and only time will tell who all has "conspired" against him.
As he deboarded a vehicle outside ESI Hospital at Joka, where he was taken for a medical check-up, Chatterjee, on being approached by reporters, said, "The money(recovered) is not mine." Asked further if anybody was conspiring against him, he said, "You will get to know when the time comes." Later, on his exit from the hospital, Chatterjee reiterated that the money didn't belong to him, and he "has never been involved in such dealings".
Nearly Rs 50 crore in cash along with gold, the value of which is still being ascertained, were recovered from apartments linked to Arpita Mukherjee, one of Chatterjee’s close aides, besides documents of properties, as per officials of the ED, the agency that arrested him.
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