Mamata targets rebel minister, orders probe into recruitment

Kolkata, Feb 3 West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday accused ex-state forest minister and recently-inducted Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Rajib Banerjee of corruption with appointments in the forest department. The CM said that the allegations will be probed.

She said that there have allegations over the issue of appointing several agana sahayak' (helpers) posts in the state forest department when Rajib Banerjee was in-charge.

Without naming Banerjee directly, the CM said: "One person has recently switched to the BJP. We have received several complaints against him and found several malpractices on his part. I have ordered a probe on the issue."

She said that, unlike the BJP, her party Trinamool Congress does not believe in selling tickets before the elections. "In my party, booth workers are above party leaders. They are my real assets," she added.

Banerjee said that she is happy as all rotten elements are leaving the party. She said if there are any fence-sitters left, they can leave Trinamool Congress immediately and join the BJP ahead of the upcoming state assembly polls.

"We have seen that greedy politic were taken to Delhi in a private plane. But hungry migrant workers were stuffed inside trains and sent back to respective states by the Central government during the lockdown," the West Bengal CM said, calling it "unfortunate".

She said that election dates would be declared in a week. "People who will not get their Swasthya Sathi cards will be given temporary cards where biometric facility will not be required for the time being. We will update those cards with biometrics later. We don't want people to suffer due to the election commission's code of conduct," she added.

( With inputs from IANS )