Trinamool censures RS member Jawhar Sircar, removes him from WhatsApp group

Kolkata, Sep 3 (IANS) Trinamool Congress has censured its Rajya Sabha member and bureaucrat-turned-politician Jawhar Sircar over some of his recent comments on the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) recruitment irregularity scam.

Sarkar has also been removed from the internal WhatsApp group of Trinamool's Rajya Sabha members.

When IANS tried to contact Sircar for his comments, instead of taking the call he replied with an SMS message, which read, "No comments. Thank you."

Recently, while speaking to a vernacular news channel, Sircar, a retired IAS officer and ex-CEO of Prasar Bharati, had said that he was really shocked by the huge cash recovered from the two residences of Arpita Mukherjee, a close aide of former state Education Minister and the prime accused in the teacher recruitment scam, Partha Chatterjee.

He had also said that after the recovery of cash was flashed in the media, there was immense pressure on him from his family members, friends and well-wishers.

Following Sircar's remarks, senior Trinamool leaders such as Saugata Roy and Tapas Roy had said that his comments were unwarranted at this point of time and caused embarrassments to the party leadership.

Roy even went on to say that if Sircar thinks it right, he can resign as a Rajya Sabha member and his exit will make no difference to the party.

Soon after that the party instructed senior Rajya Sabha member Sukhendu Sekhar Roy to coordinate with Sircar in the matter.

During that interaction, Sircar reportedly stuck to his stand and explained that his comments were not against the party but against the involvement of politicians in corruption. Sukhendu Sekhar Roy reportedly asked him to refrain from making any comments to the media and instead raise any issue within the party.

But now that Sircar has been removed from the internal WhatsApp Group of Trinamool Rajya Sabha members, talks are doing the rounds whether Sircar's exit from Trinamool Congress is a matter of time.

However, Trinamool leaders have remained tight-lipped over the development till the time the time of filing of this report.