Ravi Shankar Prasad calls opposition parties supporting CM Mamata as 'alliance of corrupts'

"They have emerged as a coalition of the corrupt to save each other," Prasad said while addressing a press conference here.

Prasad also questioned the presence of Rajeev Kumar in the dharna and said he has never seen a police chief sitting on a sit-in protest.

"What is happening? A Police Commissioner is sitting on a dharna with politicians? What is the meaning of this? By sitting on dharna West Bengal CM is following the footsteps of Arvind Kejriwal," he said.

In an apparent boost for the anti-Narendra Modi front, several opposition leaders, most of them who were seen at the Brigade rally on Jan 19, backed West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's "sit-in" protest against the CBI's move to quiz Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar for allegedly tampering evidences of chit-fund scams.

The opposition leaders have ganged up against the BJP, which has been accused by Mamata of using federal probe agency to make political gains in West Bengal in the forthcoming General Elections.

Developments on Monday:

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday took their battle against the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal to the Election Commission highlighting how the Mamata Banerjee government in the eastern state is using its machinery to threaten the BJP workers and not allowing any electioneering by refusing permission to landing of helicopters of their leaders.

Briefing media, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said "every worker of BJP is constantly being threatened." She said the Mamata government is using the civic volunteers in West Bengal to act like police and threaten.

"TMC is rattled by the growth of the BJP," she said.

"It is an irony that the Chief Minister herself said democracy is under threat when she is acting like this," said Sitharaman.

"We gave instance by instance account to the Election Commission and requested them to take action," said Sitharaman.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Monday said it will hear tomorrow the CBI plea against the Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal on non-cooperation with the federal agency to probe into the state's chit fun scams, which require the quizzing of Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar, media reports said.

While Mamata Banerjee began an indefinite dharna against the CBI move, the Supreme Court has asked the probe agency to produce evidence proving Kumar's alleged attempt to tamper evidences in the chit fund scams after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for CBI, said that the Kolkata Police Commissioner was destroying evidence.

Sitharaman said even the chopper of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, who is an elected CM of a state, was not allowed by Mamata.