Army-Mamata standoff: Bengal BJP to file suit against TMC supremo
A four-member delegation on BJP, led by its state president Dilip Ghosh, met Bengal governor- Keshari Nath Tripathi- here in Kolkata's Raj Bhavan (Governor's Place) in the morning to complaint against Trinamool supremo's comments over army exercise.
After meeting the Guv, Dilip Ghosh told the media: "Mamata Banerjee defamed our army by saying them extortionist and we are going to court against her comments on a military exercise."
"She made few statements which dishonoured the post of our Prime Minister. This will also be mentioned in our petition," Ghosh added.
Earlier on Thursday, 'unarmed' troops were deployed at several toll plazas, including Vidyasagar Setu toll plaza in front of state secretariat Nabanno in Kolkata, in the state to conduct its annual exercise to get statistical data about about the load carriers that could be made available to the army in case of a contingency.
Alleging that the army was deployed in the state without Bengal government's consent and the Central government had sent army for a military coup, Chief Minister stayed in the secretariat overnight to 'guard' the state and democracy.
However, the Eastern Command of Indian Army on Friday denied all allegations, made by Trinamool supremo and stated that it was only an annual exercise of army, nothing else.
Following the incident, a TMC delegation, led by party's Secretary General Partha Chatterjee, met state governor Keshari Nath Tripathi here in Kolkata's Raj Bhaban (Governor's Palace) on Saturday and put forward a memorandum to him, describing the alleged army deployment.
Meanwhile, when he was asked about Mamata Banerjee's allegation against army, WB governor Keshari Nath Tripathi told the media, "Every person should take care in making allegations against a responsible organization like Indian Army."
"Don't let down Indian troops. Don't defame the army," Tripathi further said.
Protesting Tripathi's reaction, Mamata Banerjee tweeted: "Governor is speaking in the voice of Central Government!! He was not in the city for about 8 days."
"Before making statements, all details should have been checked. It is very unfortunate," Banerjee further tweeted.
(Reporting by Deepayan Sinha)
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