BJP scared helicopter operators to return our advance payment for electioneering: Mamata

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday accused the BJP of threatening helicopter operators who had been paid rent in advance by her Trinamool Congress for using choppers during the Lok Sabha poll campaign.

Trinamool supremo Banerjee also claimed that senior BJP leader and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh was "forced to parrot" whatever he was asked by his party's top guns as his son has been framed, "with an FIR filed against him".

Banerjee made the allegations on the helicopter issue after a mediaperson sought her reaction on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's claims at a rally earlier in the day that landing permission was denied to BJP President Amit Shah's chopper during a recent trip to West Bengal as the Trinamool chief was "scared".

"If you (Banerjee) have done nothing wrong, then what is the reason for being so scared? They are scared even when the BJP President comes to the state. Sometimes, they stop the chopper from landing, sometimes they deny us permission to take out yatras (rallies). How long would your games last?" Modi questioned during the rally in West Burdwan district's Durgapur.

Joining issue with Modi, Banerjee said Shah was only a political leader and asked why her government should build a helipad for him.

"They (leaders like Shah) have been given helicopters. If he says he is not being given, I will not give him from now on.

"Who is he? He is only a political leader. Their party has a lot of money. He should make a helipad for his helicopter. Why should the government build it for him?" she asked.

Responding to Rajnath Singh's statement that the BJP would come to power in the state in 2021, Banerjee told a television channel he was being made to say such things.

"I won't say, ma be it won't be proper. But the fact is even Rajnath's son has been framed. He (Rajnath) now has to parrot whatever he is asked to. There is an FIR against Rajnath's son also," she said.