Not easy to break Bengal with central agencies: Mamata

KOLKATA: Amid the ongoing probe into the SSC scam case in West Bengal where state minister Partha Chatterjee is one of the prime accused, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday slammed the Centre saying it was 'not easy to break Bengal" with the help of investigative agencies. Claiming that the "BJP has no work" except toppling governments, Banerjee said the ruling party at the Centre aimed to topple democratically elected state governments.

"They (BJP) have no work, their job is to take over the state governments through 3-4 agencies. They've taken Maharashtra, now Jharkhand but Bengal has defeated them. It's not easy to break Bengal as you have to fight the Royal Bengal Tiger first," Banerjee said.

The West Bengal chief minister claimed that the would not return to power after the 2024 general elections. "I believe that BJP will not come in 2024 (to power). Unemployment in India is increasing by 40 per cent but it decreased by 45 per cent in Bengal," she said.

She also alleged that a 'media trial' was on to tarnish Bengal's image. "Today media trial is going on and they are calling people accused. They just want to create a bad impression of Bengal." Partha Chatterjee, the Bengal Industries Minister, was arrested on Saturday on money-laundering charges linked to the SSC (School Service Commission) scam.

He was accused of a role in alleged illegal appointments of schoolteachers and staff in government-run schools when he was the state Education Minister. Chatterjee's close associate Arpita Mukherjee was also arrested as part of the ED's investigation into the scam.

ED arrested Mukherjee after it claimed to have recovered huge cash amounting to approximately Rs 20 crore from her residence on Friday. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) summoned another Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLA Manik Bhattacharya for questioning at the agency's Kolkata office on Wednesday. Manik Bhattacharya is the former chief of the Bengal Primary Education Board.