Suvendu alleges TMC MLA arrest in school recruitment scam only tip of the iceberg

Leader of Opposition and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Suvendu Adhikari on Tuesday (August 26, 2025) accused that the arrest of Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLA Jiban Krishna Saha is only the tip of an iceberg, and the corruption runs deep within the ruling party. Mr. Saha was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in the teacher’s recruitment scam on Monday (August 25, 2025). 

Mr. Adhikari showed pictures of Mr. Saha with the TMC’s second in command, Abhishek Banerjee, from August 12. There were other TMC leaders also present in the photograph that Mr. Adhikari showed at a press conference on Tuesday (August 26, 2025). 

“This is a new picture from this month. Jiban collected money, kept some for himself and supplied the rest of it to Kalighat (residence of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee). Who collected how much money is clear from the photograph. If he was a political prisoner and ED tried to arrest him, he should have obliged. Why did he try to run?” Mr. Adhikari accused. 

This accusation came in reference to Mr. Saha, MLA from Burwan Assembly constituency in the State’s Murshidabad district, when he allegedly tried to escape the ED officials by jumping from the first floor and scaling the boundary wall of the compound. He was chased and apprehended by the ED. Later in the day, he was produced in a Kolkata court and sent to the custody of ED till August 30. 

The senior BJP leader also accused that the whole TMC party leadership is involved in the scam and the corruption worked under the leadership of Mamata Banerjee. “Many collectors like Mr. Saha were spread out across the State who were responsible for extracting money from the jobless youth and send the money to Kalighat,” Mr. Adhikari added. 

Mr. Adhikari also claimed that Ms. Banerjee’s whole family has benefited from the scam. 

In response to these allegations, the TMC’s official social media handle posted a video of Mr. Adhikari allegedly receiving money as a bribe. They also posted his pictures with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and wrote, “BREAKING NEWS! @narendramodi announces a grand fight against corruption in Bengal. And @SuvenduWB is likely to be the face of this campaign.” 

Former TMC Rajya Sabha MP and party spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said that the photograph shown by Mr. Adhikari is being misrepresented. “When Suvendu was in our party, why did he not realise the same things then? Abhishek Banerjee was present in that picture as part of an official event, this is not the same as a personal relationship,” Mr. Ghosh added. 

Mr. Ghosh also alleged that BJP leaders are using the central agencies like ED and CBI to harass the ruling party leaders in West Bengal. He also accused that the timing of these raids and arrests of their leaders is “suspicious” as this arrest came a couple of days after PM Modi spoke about the scams in Bengal and TMC’s involvement in it. 

Many TMC leaders are behind bars in the school recruitment scam, including former Education Minister Partha Chatterjee. The scam unsurfaced massive irregularities and corruption in the recruitment of teachers and non-teaching staff in state-run schools. This has dominated State politics for the past three years. 

On April 3, 2025, the Supreme Court cancelled the appointment of all teaching and non-teaching staff hired in the 2016 panel, stating irregularities in the selection process. Over 25,000 people have lost their jobs after this order.