Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister of Education, Government of India said that he is sympathetic to the demands of aspiring teachers on stir and asserted that he is yet to receive a reply from West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on the issue.
The Union Minister, who is also a senior BJP leader, stated that it is "unimaginable" that heaps of currency notes were found in the flats of a close associate of a former minister of the state which is the birthplace of Rabindranath Tagore and other luminaries, stated a report in PTI.
While saying this, the Union Education Minister was referring to the seizure of currency notes worth crores from the flats of Arpita Mukherjee, allegedly a close aide of former minister Partha Chatterjee. It was last month when the two were arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with its probe into the School Service Commission (SSC) recruitment scam.
Talking to reporters on the sidelines of an ASSOCHAM meeting on the future of education, he said, "I have written a letter to the West Bengal chief minister days back voicing my concern over the demands and grievances of the SSC candidates seeking to know the honourable CM's view on the matter But I am yet to get any reply from her."
While replying to a question, Pradhan said that he has met the agitating teaching job aspirants during his last visit to Kolkata and, "I am sympathetic to their issue," he added.
Claiming that the word "extortion" had become commonplace in West Bengal politics in recent times but, he said, it is unimaginable that the education sector is plagued by the malaise now.
"I heard relatives and even aides of ministers are getting jobs without qualifying for exams, is this true?" he commented.
Trinamool Congress spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Sukhendu Sekhar Roy told PTI that he will not respond to Pradhan's comments on the recruitment issue as the matter is sub-judice.
He said, "However, the BJP leader has no moral right to speak on corruption. Has he forgotten how a BJP national president was caught on camera accepting cash in the past?"
Roy was apparently referring to Bangaru Laxman who was caught accepting bribe in a 2001 sting operation conducted by a news portal when he was the BJP president.
A special CBI court sentenced him to four years in jail in April 2012. He died two years later.
