West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday accused the state’s governor Keshri Nath Tripathi of “speaking in the voice of the Central government” after he cautioned her against making allegations about the Army, PTI reported. While Tripathi described Banerjee’s statements against the Army’s deployment at toll plazas in the state as unfortunate, the chief minister said the governor was not in the city for the past eight to 12 days.
Tripathi had said, “Every person should take care in making allegations against a responsible organisation like the Army…. Don’t let down the Army. Don’t defame the Army.”
Leaders from her Trinamool Congress Party submitted a memorandum to Tripathi against the Army’s deployment, which the governor assured them would be handed over to the central government.
The chief minister had said that the Army troops have been deployed in all districts, except South 24 Parganas, with the aim to disrupt governance. At least six vehicles marked “Military Police” were spotted at the toll plaza on Vidyasagar Setu, a bridge that connects Kolkata to Howrah on Thursday. She had claimed that the Army’s presence in the state was similar to an attempted “military coup”.
On December 3, the Army had refuted Banerjee’s claims of not being informed about the deployment with the release of four letters it had written to authorities of the West Bengal government requesting their cooperation.
Trinamool Congress Party leaders had earlier said Banerjee was targeted because of her opposition to the Centre’s move to demonetise Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes. They had claimed that a flight carrying the chief minister on November 30 was delayed and made to hover over Kolkata airport for 30 minutes because of an alleged plot to kill her. The airline concerned, IndiGo, has denied the allegations that the flight was low on fuel during the delay.
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