Opp leaders have come together out of fear of Modi: Irani

Union minister Smriti Irani Wednesday took a dig at opposition parties over their Kolkata rally and said those leaders who opposed each other all their lives have now come together to serve their own "personal interests" and "out of fear of Narendra Modi".

"West Bengal witnessed a peculiar situation where people (opposition leaders) came together on a political platform. They have nothing to do with the development of the people," she told BJP's 'Ganatantra Bachao' rally here.

"They (opposition leaders) came together out of fear of Narendra Modi. They came together to serve their personal interests. They have opposed each other all their lives but have come together in order to stop the developmental process initiated by Narendra Modi," she said.

Irani mocked West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for sharing the stage at the rally and trying to forge an alliance with the Congress, who, she claimed, had once tortured her during her days in that party.

Several BJP workers have been tortured and killed by TMC in Bengal but still the party is fighting against the misrule of TMC, she said.

"We should take a vow that in 2019 we will bring in a new wave of development in Bengal under the leadership of Narendra Modi. In 2019, Narendra Modi will again form the government at the Centre and we will oust TMC from Bengal," she said.

Irani couldn't attend her second rally of the day scheduled to be held at Suri in Birbhum district as the authorities denied permission to her chopper to land at Jhargram.

BJP national secretary Rahul Sinha accused the district authorities of hatching a conspiracy so that Irani is unable to attend the rally at Suri in Birbhum.

The district authorities, he said, had given BJP permission for the Jhargram rally but declined to allow landing of the chopper near the venue.

"So we had to land Smriti Irani's chopper at Kalaikunda Air Force Base and then travel by car to Jhargram (40.2 km). She had to take the same route back to Kalaikunda to catch her chopper. This delayed the entire schedule and as a chopper cannot land or fly after sundown, she couldn't attend the Suri rally," Sinha said.

"This is nothing but a conspiracy to stop Smriti Irani from attending the Suri rally," BJP state president Dilip Ghosh said.

The TMC leadership termed the allegations as baseless.

"The district administration must have taken the decision of not allowing the chopper to land at Jhargram after looking into the security aspect. The problem with BJP leadership is that they have lost their mind and see conspiracy in everything," said TMC Birbhum district unit president Anubrata Mandal.

The BJP had alleged on Monday that the West Bengal government has denied permission for landing the helicopter carrying party national president Amit Shah at an airstrip in Malda on Tuesday.

Union minister Piyush Goyal had claimed that it showed Banerjee was "scared" of the party's growing influence in the state.

To this, Banerjee had said the police had given permission for landing the helicopter. "The accusation is wrong. They (BJP) are distorting and misinforming the people. It is absolutely untrue," Banerjee said.