West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari. File. | Photo credit: PTI
West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Wednesday (May 13, 2026) emphasized his government’s “zero tolerance” policy on corruption, sanctioning the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to prosecute officials allegedly involved in several scams.
Mr. Adhikari sanctioned the CBI to prosecute officials involved in the teacher recruitment scam, the municipal recruitment scam and the cooperative scam that the previous Trinamool Congress government had busted.
“The previous government got this permission shelved to save the corrupt bureaucrats and officials. The CBI or any other court-appointed investigative agency has to seek permission from the state government under the law to ensure punishment of the corrupt officials or file a case against them. We have given the necessary permission to the CBI to take action against the corrupt officials of the three ministries,” Mr. Adhikari said.
The Chief Minister said that the BJP government in West Bengal had raised many expectations and his government was adopting a policy of “zero tolerance” when it came to corruption.
“We have also mentioned measures against institutional corruption in our party manifesto. The people of the state will see further steps in this regard in the coming days. We have started working,” he said. The teacher’s recruitment scam and the municipal recruitment scam rocked the previous Trinamool Congress government, leading to the arrest of several Trinamool leaders. On May 11, the Enforcement Directorate arrested former Trinamool minister Sujit Bose in a recruitment scam in the municipality.
In another development, the Chief Minister announced that the previous government’s policy of banning the sale of potatoes to other states has been revoked with immediate effect.
“Potato growers and potato traders will no longer have to face harassment,” the chief minister said. After the price of potatoes plummeted in the last few years, the Trinamool Congress banned the state from sending potatoes to other states. Police and other government agencies searched the border areas of the state.
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This year, West Bengal has witnessed a bumper crop of potatoes and tuber prices have come down this season, resulting in a drop in prices. This led to widespread agrarian distress and resulted in the defeat of the Trinamool Congress government. The BJP won 16 of the 18 assembly seats in Hooghly district, which is one of the largest potato producers in the state.
Published – 14 May 2026 02:00 IST
