Kolkata, Apr 8 (IANS): At a time when the West Bengal government, especially its education department, is facing embarrassment over the ongoing CBI probe into the alleged irregularities in the recruitment process of the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC), a loaded statement by Trinamool Congress General Secretary and party spokesman Kunal Ghosh on Friday has created ripples in the political circles of the state.

Interacting with mediapersons, Ghosh gave a clean chit to Education Minister Bratya Basu, but refused to express similar views about Basu's predecessor Partha Chatterjee, the Trinamool General Secretary who is currently serving as the Commerce and Industries Minister.

In fact, all the recruitment irregularities in WBSSC which are being probed by the CBI allegedly took place when Chatterjee was the Education Minister.

"I can say it for certain that such irregularities cannot take place with Bratya Basu at the helm of affairs," Ghosh told reporters.

However, he made a surprising statement when mediapersons asked whether such irregularities could have taken place during Chatterjee's tenure.

"This answer can be given by Partha Chatterjee only, who was the then Education Minister and also the party's General Secretary. I am unable to offer any comment on this," Ghosh said.

This is not the first time that Ghosh has taken subtle jibes at Chatterjee.

Recently Chatterjee had shared a fake post on his Facebook page that claimed the death of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Though Chatterjee later deleted the post, Ghosh did not miss the opportunity to take a jibe at the former without naming him.

"In 2012, when I was sworn-in as a Rajya Sabha member, I had a photograph with Manmohan Singh. When I retired in 2018, I clicked with him, when he was on the Opposition bench. I have also seen him as a former journalist. I developed deep-rooted respect for him from what I came to know about him. I condemn the action of those who circulated fake news about his death on Tuesday. I also condemn those who acted irresponsibly and shared the same fake news. I wish Manmohan Singh good health," Ghosh wrote in a Facebook post.