The West Bengal unit of Bharatiya Janata Party ( BJP) on Wednesday alleged that it had to cancel a public meeting of former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in Murshidabad district after district officials denied permission for the landing of his chopper.
Mr. Chouhan, who arrived in the city during the day, however addressed another public meeting near Kharagpur in Paschim Medinipur district. Mr. Chouhan, who is also vice-president of the BJP, reached the venue by road from the airport.
“(West Bengal Chief Minister) Mamata Banerjee is doing everything other than running the administration. All she is doing is obstructing public rallies of the BJP, not allowing the helicopter of Amit Shah to land, trying to pose challenges to the rally of Narendra Modi, not allowing Yogi Adityanath’s rally to be held and preventing my helicopter from landing,” he said while addressing the gathering.
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“You did not give permission for the helicopter to land but I came by car. If you stop the car we will walk to the venue,” the BJP leader said.
The former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister also targeted Ms. Banerjee for the three-day dharna at Kolkata’s Metro Channel. Mr. Chouhan said that he had been a Chief Minister himself for 15 years and never come across an instance when a Chief Minister sat on dharna to protect a police officer.
The Trinamool Congress leadership said the permission was denied to the helicopter due to security reasons.
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In a similar incident, former Jharkhand CM and BJP leader Arjun Munda said he was denied permission by the administration to hold a public meeting at Bishnupur in Bankura district. The police claimed that the permission was withheld for security reasons as TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee had a scheduled public event in the area.
No Union Minister at Bengal Business meet
Meanwhile, owing to the standoff between the Centre and the State, no minister from the Union Government is likely to attend the Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS) which begins in the city on Thursday. On earlier occasions prominent ministers such as Arun Jaitley, Nitin Gadkari and Suresh Prabhu had participated in the BGBS, which is aimed at attracting investment to West Bengal.
Ms. Banerjee said that Mr. Prabhu had sent had a video message for the event. “I have no problem. We want to work together, government to government work is different. It is our Constitutional obligation,” she said.