The CPM has challenged chief minister Mamata Banerjee to open the files which she alleged contained proof of corruption in giving jobs and issuing fake birth certificates during the Left Front regime.

During the Martyrs’ Day event today, Miss Banerjee alleged that certain files, if opened, will reveal the corruption relating to offering jobs during the Left Front government. She alleged that jobs were given to the wives of the scribes, who worked for the Left mouthpiece (Ganashakti). “The policy was, the men will work for the party while their wives will work. Jobs were also given in return for huge sums of money,” she alleged.

Miss Banerjee raised the issue in the backdrop of several TMC party members being probed by the CBI for corruption in teacher recruitment scam. She hit out at CPM Rajya Sabha MP and advocate, Bikashranjan Bhattacharya, who is fighting for the victims in the cases of recruitment corruption against the state government. “Who does he think he is? A saint! What about the many birth certificates that were issued during his time? Were they original?” asked Mamata. She was referring to the time when Bikashranjan Bhattacharya was the mayor of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation.

Responding to these charges, the CPM central committee member Sujan Chakraborty said, “I challenge her to open the files which she claims are proof of corruption. She has been making such claims for several years without being able to produce single evidence supporting her allegations. The entire state is watching who all are involved in teacher recruitment corruption as one after another TMC members are being probed by central agencies.”

Mr Chakraborty highlighted that suddenly Mamata Banerjee is now feeling threatened by the Left. “Even a few days back she had claimed that the Left cannot be spotted and one has to use binoculars to look for us.”

Meanwhile, Bikashranjan Bhattacharya said, “Let Mamata Banerjee form a probe committee headed by her to investigate the alleged charges of corruption she has levelled against me. If she can reveal information supporting her allegations, I will send her sweets. If she fails, she should then admit herself to a mental institution.”