Shah says Bengal yatra ‘will happen’; HC leaves it to govt

KOLKATA/NEWDELHI: She [Banerjee] can use whatever force she wants. I will personally go to flag off these yatras. We will not surrender

AMIT SHAH, BJP president

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday said the reason why West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee did not give the party permission to hold three ‘rath yatras’ (rallies) in the state was because she was “scared” of its expansion even as the Calcutta high court came down heavily on the West Bengal government for not responding to letters of the BJP seeking permission for its rath yatras in the state.

On Thursday, the high court refused to grant permission to a BJP rally, hours after the state government told the one-judge bench that the administration denied approval to the event over apprehensions of law and order problems. The BJP approached the court again on Friday to appeal before a division bench.

The court directed the state to hold a meeting with three BJP representatives on Wednesday (December 12) and take a decision on the matter by December 14.