"Incompetent Or Part Of It": Ex-Aide Attacks Mamata Banerjee Over Job Scam, Party Hits Back

Dinesh Trivedi, who left for BJP last year, speaks on Partha Chatterjee's arrest; Trinamool says he's just upset as BJP didn't keep promises to him

BJP leader Dinesh Trivedi, once a senior member of Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress, today made a direct attack at Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over the arrest of her since-sacked minister Partha Chatterjee in a corruption scam. "As CM, if you did not know what was happening to your otherwise most-trusted colleague, then I think it is incompetence. And if you knew what was happening, then you're part of it," Mr Trivedi, who left the Trinamool early last year, said while speaking to NDTV. "Bengal deserves better," he added.

On whether he is suggesting Ms Banerjee should resign, he said, "I am nobody to suggest anything." But he also said, "When Lal Bahadur Shastri was Railway Minister, he resigned after a train accident... He was not the engine driver. He felt, (for) morality, he should resign."

But Trinamool MP Santanu Sen countered later, saying, "Show me one instance where the BJP has taken action against any of their leaders. Mamata Banerjee has already removed Partha Chatterjee from the cabinet and suspended him from the party." 

Ms Banerjee took the action yesterday, six days after Mr Chatterjee was arrested on July 23 along with an associate, actor Arpita Mukherjee, for alleged corruption in hiring teachers and other staff when he was Education Minister in 2016. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has seized Rs 50 crore from Ms Mukherjee's flats — visuals of cash and gold bars have gone viral.