Shah's rally cancelled in Bengal, TMC denies any role

Kolkata/New Delhi, May 13
BJP chief Amit Shah's scheduled rally in Jadavpur was called off Monday after the West Bengal government, the saffron party claimed, denied him permission to land his chopper and address the public meeting in the Lok Sabha constituency.
Accusing the West Bengal government of "replacing democracy with dictatorship", the BJP said the Election Commission has become a "mute spectator" to the Trinamool Congress's alleged undemocratic means to target the party.
The TMC, however, rebutted the allegations, claiming the BJP had cancelled the rally fearing a low turnout.
"The allegations are completely baseless. We have nothing to do with it. They themselves have cancelled the rally as they were afraid that the rally might turn out to be a flop show," TMC secretary general Partha Chatterjee said.
According to BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya, the district administration had unnecessarily delayed the permission to land Shah's chopper claiming that they were yet to get a clearance from the Public Works Department. "The district magistrate has been acting as a party cadre of the TMC. They kept on denying us permission for Shah's chopper. Later, they also denied us permission to hold the rally. This is not only undemocratic but also shows the TMC's authoritarian mindset," Vijayvargiya said.
According to Bengal BJP sources, the BJP had planned to go ahead with the Baruipur rally despite the state government's denial of permission, but the land owner, who had rented out his property for the meeting, withdrew his consent at the last minute. "It was due to pressure from TMC that the owner withdrew his consent," a state BJP leader said.
The party's media head and Rajya Sabha MP Anil Baluni asserted that he along with other workers and members will hold protests and move the EC against TMC's "atrocities".
Following the cancellation of the rally, clashes broke out between the workers of the two rival parties in Baruipur. PTI