Mamata-Army standoff: TMC MLAs demonstrate at governor's place over military exercise in West Bengal
As Bengal governor Keshari Nath Tripathi was not present at Raj Bhaban, TMC leaders could not put forward memorandum before him.
"We are here to agitate over the military deployment in Bengal without state government's knowledge, which is against the democracy and federal structure," TMC Secretary General Partha Chatterjee said.
"I talked to governor, who is the guardian of the state, over phone and he told me that he will meet us tomorrow, after reaching Kolkata," Chatterjee added.
According to Indian Army's Eastern Command, army personnel have been deployed to several toll plazas, including Kolkata's Vidyasagar Setu toll plaza in front of state secretariat Nabanna, in West Bengal and few other states to host its annual survey.
"The army is conducting its annual exercise throughout the country to get statistical data about about the load carriers that could be made available to the army in case of a contingency," an Indian Army spokesperson told IBNS.
Comparing the army exercise with a military coup, Mamata Banerjee stayed at Nabanna overnight on Thursday and said that she would not leave the secretariat until army is withdrawn from her state.
Followed by Chief Minister's protest, Indian Army and state police sparred on Twitter over the knowledge of military exercise in West Bengal.
During a press conference here at Indian Army's Bengal Headquarters on Friday, army officials released a series of letters to prove that it had not made any deployment without informing the West Bengal Police and authorities about some routine exercises in some toll plazas, including the one of the second Hooghly Bridge near state secretariat Nabanna in Howrah.
After the army hosted the press conference, Kolkata Police claimed that it told the army not to host exercise near Nabanna, citing security reasons and traffic inconvenience.
"KP objections to the venue for the Army exercise regarding security & traffic issues were further emphasised during 27 Nov recce," Kolkata Police tweeted.
However, till the latest update came in, CM Mamata Banerjee is discussing the issue with West Bengal Police's DG Surajit Purakayastha and Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar.
(Reporting by Deepayan Sinha)
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