West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, on Saturday, questioned the Central government and BJP over the joint operations of CBI and NSG at Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas district on Friday. She also asked for the rationale behind deploying NSG for recovery of “ordinary firecrackers.”
In a significant operation at Sandeshkhali on Friday afternoon, the CBI recovered a huge cache of foreign and Indian-make firearms, explosives and crude bombs from the residence of a relative of suspended Trinamool Congress leader Sheikh Shahjahan at Sandeshkhali. Later, the NSG commandos also joined CBI in the search operations.
On Saturday, the Chief Minister also expressed doubts about the authenticity of the arms and explosives recovery and even went to the extent of claiming that there is no guarantee that those items were planted there by those who have claimed to have “recovered” them.
“The NIA is deployed even when a firecracker bursts. NSG is being deployed as if there is a war-like situation. And such operations are being conducted even without informing the state police. They did the same thing at Sandeshkhali on Friday. What is the guarantee that they themselves did not plant the items there?” the Chief Minister questioned while addressing an election rally at Kulti under Asansol Lok Sabha constituency in West Burdwan district.
Referring to the event at Sandeshkhali, she also accused BJP of trying to create an air of fear in West Bengal while the polls are underway. “They are trying to change the electoral game through the use of muscle and money power,” she said.
The Chief Minister reached the meeting venue at Kulti in a chopper. There, she slipped while sitting on the seat of the helicopter. However, she did not receive any injury and reached the meeting venue safely.
Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister also claimed the BJP candidate this time from Asansol, who was elected from adjacent Burdwan-Durgapur constituency in 2019, got elected last time by spending money.
(The story has been published via a syndicated feed with a modified headline.)
