Presence of army personnel at toll plazas in West Bengal triggered a row with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee remaining at the state secretariat overnight in protest, asking was it an “army coup”, drawing a a stinging condemnation from the Centre which said the remark showed her “political frustration”. The row also echoed in Parliament with Trinamul seeing “sinister” designs behind the move and defence minister Manohar Parrikar vehemently denying the charge, saying it was a routine exercise.
Parrikar also said it was very unfortunate that army has been dragged into an “unnecessary controversy”. The Army on its part strongly rebutted Banerjee's allegations that its personnel were deployed at toll plazas without informing the state government and were collecting money, saying the exercise was being carried out in coordination with Kolkata Police. The Army personnel, however, had left the toll plaza near the secretariat on Thursday night.
