Former West Bengal chief secretary Ardhendu Sen on Tuesday claimed that the extent of corruption in the state during the present TMC regime has reached “unprecedented levels”.

Sen, who was addressing a function attended by intellectuals, former jurists and bureaucrats in the city, said there had not been “such instances of corruption” during the tenure of the government headed by Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.

“The extent of corruption is far higher. Teachers are suffering and job seekers are sitting in the open. There are talks about ration scandal, too. Ministers are in jail over corruption charges. It has certainly reached unprecedented levels, and the present CM has unfortunately not been able to control the situation,” Sen said.

Sen was in service during the period of the Left Front rule in the state before 2011, and was considered a trusted bureaucrat of Bhattacharjee.

Reacting to the remarks, Trinamool Congress state spokesperson Kunal Ghosh told PTI that Sen must have forgotten that Bhattacharya had once resigned from the Jyoti Basu (former Bengal CM) cabinet, saying “he won’t be part of a cabinet of thieves”.

“He has forgotten about the resignation of Jatin Chakraborty as PWD minister for flagging the Bengal Lamp scandal. One wave of corruption after another was witnessed during the CPI(M) rule,” Ghosh alleged.

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