Didi v/s Army: Mamata dubs Bengal governor 'voice of Centre' for criticism

The Congress, which supported TMC in the Parliament on the issue, accused the party of attempting to "use the Army for scoring a political point". Talking to newspersons outside Parliament, the information and broadcasting minister said: "This is nothing but a cheap political stunt to defame the government and dragging the Army into an unnecessary controversy where none exists".

The riveting drama unfolded on Thursday evening, when Banerjee alleged the army has been deployed at the Dankuni and Palsit toll plazas on National Highway 2 (connecting Delhi and Kolkata) without informing the state government. "It is quite odd that the CM is not aware about it even as the district magistrate and state administration has proper knowledge about the same", BJP leader Rahul Sinha told ANI.

He also reiterated that no need to politicize such issues.

Nevertheless, the Parliament again witnessed ruckus today as the opposition continued to corner the Centre over the army's deployment in West Bengal.

In the letters posted in TOI, the concerned authorities in the West Bengal government were informed about the deployment at toll plaza. "I want to know if, besides the financial emergency, the attack on democracy and the federal structure, is there an emergency?" she asked, insisting that even to conduct mock drills, the Army must seek the state government's permission which "they did not".

It acknowledged the Army's memo dated November 24 "in connection with the intimation of the Impressments Exercise for Civil Hired Transport on and from November 28 to November 30 at Vidyasagar Setu Toll Plaza".

Terming the Governor's comments as "unfortunate", Banerjee, also the Trinamool Congress supremo, said Tripathi should have checked the details of recent developments in the state before commenting.

The TMC government had challenged the Centre to provide the documents, which proved that the West Bengal government had given a green signal for the deployment of army in certain areas of the state.

Reacting to the Chief Minister's allegations he said, "We deny all charges with all contempt". In Kolkata, TMC MLAs and ministers today staged a protest dharna outside Raj Bhavan here demanding immediate withdrawal of army from toll plazas in the state. At about 10pm, Banerjee announced that she would stay put at state secretariat Nabanna until the army suspended the exercise, allowing her opponents an opportunity to question her motivation. "They did not give any intimation for other places where they undertook their exercise", she said.