Dilip Ghosh's fake degree row: PIL filed in Calcutta High Court

Ashok Sarkar, a former BJP leader, on Tuesday filed a PIL in the High Court allegedly furnishing the fake degree that state BJP president Dilip Ghosh holds.

Sarkar alleged that Ghosh had declared before the Election Commission that he had obtained a diploma from Jhargram Polytechnic. It was later discovered that there was no such educational institution under such a name. However, there is Iswarchandra Vidyasagar Polytechnic and while replying to an RTI application filed by Sarkar, the college authorities informed him that Ghosh did not study in their institution.

After getting the reply, Sarkar wrote a letter to Speaker Biman Bandyopadhyay requesting him to drop Ghosh from the post of MLA. A copy of the letter was sent to the Election Commission of India as well. Sarkar also lodged an FIR with the Bidhannagar East police station.

Ghosh, an RSS leader looking after Andaman, was inducted in the BJP six months before the Assembly election in 2016 and was made the president. His predecessor, Rahul Sinha, had completed his term and was made one of the national secretaries of the party. Ghosh was elected from Kharagpur Sadar Assembly constituency. The BJP has three MLAs, the highest since the formation of the party.

Sarkar alleged that Ghosh had sidelined the original BJP leaders and gave key positions to those who had come from CPI(M). Ghosh is famous for his "caustic tongue" and even party's national president Amit Shah had said in the press conference in the city last week that "Dilipda will use sweet words from now on."