Kolkata | Hours after Trinamool Congress leader Kunal Ghosh shared a stage with a BJP Lok Sabha candidate and praised him, the TMC on Wednesday removed him from the post of state general secretary for making statements not aligning with the party.

Ghosh, who has been seeking more prominence for next-generation leaders, had expressed his desire to resign as party spokesperson and state general secretary in March.

The party then accepted his resignation as spokesperson but asked him to continue with the other post.

“Kunal Ghosh has been expressing views that don’t align with the party… Mr Ghosh was previously relieved from his role as party spokesperson. Now he has been removed from the position of general secretary of the state organization,” the TMC said in a statement.

In the statement signed by TMC Rajya Sabha party leader Derek O'Brien, the party also asked media outlets not to conflate Ghosh's views with those of the party, warning that doing so might invite legal action.

"It is important to clarify that these are his personal opinions.... Only statements issued from the AITC (All India Trinamool Congress) headquarters should be considered the official position of the party," it said.

Despite his removal from the post of party spokesperson, he has been holding press conferences regularly from the party headquarters during the ongoing Lok Sabha election campaign.

A senior TMC leader, speaking on the condition of anonymity, described Ghosh's removal as a "calibrated punishment," indicating that his removal as state spokesperson in March was a warning, and this removal as state general secretary is the final action.

Ghosh did not take part in TMC's Kolkata North Lok Sabha constituency Sudip Bandopadhyay's rally, but attended a blood donation programme where BJP nominee Tapas Ray was present.

At the programme, Ghosh said, "Tapas Ray is a true leader. His doors are always open for party workers and people. I have known him for several decades. Unfortunately, our paths are now different... I am hopeful that the elections will be free and fair, and that no unscrupulous means will be used to retain the seat. Let the people cast their votes freely," he added.

Ray, a four-term TMC MLA, joined the BJP in March after the party re-nominated its incumbent MP Sudip Bandopadhyay in the Kolkata North seat. The BJP then fielded Ray against Bandopadhyay.

Reacting to Ghosh's expulsion from his post, Ray said, "Whom they will suspend or expel is their internal matter. I have nothing to say about it. But it proves TMC doesn't believe in courtesy in politics."

Ghosh, considered close to TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, had kicked off a storm this year that the old guards in the party need to know when to step aside for the next generation.

He had also accused a section of old guards, including Sudip Bandopadhyay, of being hand in gloves with the BJP.

Following this, Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee herself issued a stern warning instructing party leaders to abstain from publicly discussing differences, emphasizing that any violation may lead to disciplinary action.

The controversy erupted in November last year when Banerjee advocated respecting senior members and dismissed the notion that old leaders should retire from active politics.

TMC national general secretary and Banerjee's nephew, Abhishek, endorsed a retirement age in politics and cited a decline in work efficiency and productivity with advancing age.

A journalist by profession in the vernacular media, Ghosh's rise and fall in the TMC has been a matter of debate.

A vocal critic of the Left Front regime, Ghosh was rewarded with a Rajya Sabha nomination by the TMC in 2012.

However, after the Saradha Chit fund scam bubble burst in 2013, Ghosh, then CEO of the Saradha media group, openly clashed with the TMC.

He was arrested in November 2013 in connection with the Saradha Chit fund scam and was subsequently suspended by the party.

Later, after the CBI took over the investigation, Ghosh continued to speak out against the leadership. In 2016, he was granted bail by the court.

In July 2020, he was appointed TMC's spokesperson, and in June 2021, he was appointed the party's state general secretary.

Party was aware of school recruitment scam before 2021 assembly polls: Kunal Ghosh

Kolkata | Senior TMC leader Kunal Ghosh on Wednesday claimed that the party was aware of the school recruitment scam even before the 2021 assembly polls, hours after he was removed from the post of the party's state general secretary.

The damaging statement from Ghosh, considered close to TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, came amidst the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, as the SSC scam has escalated into a significant issue in the polls.

Ghosh was removed from the post hours after he shared a stage with a BJP Lok Sabha candidate and praised him.

"The party was well aware of the fact that largescale corruption and extortion in lieu of jobs was taking place in the school education department. The party was aware of it even before the 2021 assembly polls," he said in an interview with Bengali news channel ABP Ananda.

Ghosh, who has been seeking more prominence for next-generation leaders and was at loggerheads with the old guards in the TMC, said it was due to this "information about large-scale corruption that Partha Chatterjee was shifted to the industry department from the education ministry after the party returned to power for the third consecutive term in 2021."

Ghosh's remarks came a week after the Calcutta High Court declared the recruitment process of the State Level Selection Test-2016 (SLST) in West Bengal government-sponsored and aided schools as "null and void," ordering the cancellation of all appointments made through it.

Around 26,000 people have lost jobs following the court order. The TMC leadership had maintained that the party was not aware of the scam until the arrest of Chatterjee took place in 2022.

TMC leader Partha Chatterjee was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in July 2022 for his alleged involvement in the SSC scam. Chatterjee was shown the door by the party following his arrest. He was also removed from the state cabinet.

Several TMC leaders and TMC MLA Manik Bhattacharya and Jiban Krishna Saha were arrested by the CBI for their alleged involvement in the scam.