WB SSC scam: BJP's Dilip Ghosh says Partha Chatterjee's arrest was expected, top TMC leaders involved

New Delhi, July 23: The BJP demanded on Saturday that the top leadership of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) should be questioned by probe agencies as it stepped up its attack on the party after the arrest of a West Bengal minister in an alleged jobs scam.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Dilip Ghosh alleged that TMC leaders have accumulated huge amounts of money over the years, including in connection with recruitment for various posts, and said nobody will believe that its "high command" - an apparent reference to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee - was not aware of this.

Based on the evidence unearthed so far, the top leadership should be questioned," Ghosh told reporters here, without naming anyone.

At the same press conference, Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar pointed out that Banerjee, the TMC supremo, has been at the forefront of the campaign by various opposition parties to "defame" the central probe agencies. This has been a case of "chor machaye shor" (thief making noise), he said.

West Bengal Industry Minister Partha Chatterjee was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday in connection with its investigation into the alleged school jobs scam.

The federal probe agency also detained Chatterjee's close aide Arpita Mukherjee, from whose premises cash amounting to Rs 21 crore was seized.

BJP leaders said the mountain of cash seized from Mukherjee's place has exposed the TMC's corruption.