Kolkata Stadium Cancels Booking For Amit Shah's Programme

Kolkata : The BJP today alleged that a state- owned indoor stadium, where party president Amit Shah was scheduled to attend a programme next week, had cancelled the booking for the event.

The ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) in West Bengal claimed it had nothing to do with it.

"On August 26, we had called up the Netaji Indoor Stadium authorities. They said we were given a pencil (provisional) booking and asked us to come with a no-objection certificate issued by the Kolkata police.

"But on August 30, we were told that the stadium was booked for the entire month, except for the Durga Puja days between September 26-30," state BJP general secretary Sayantan Basu told PTI.

Mr Shah will be on a three day visit to West Bengal from September 11-13.

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TMC sources claimed that the booking for the BJP chief's event at the stadium or its cancellation had nothing to do with any of its ministers or leaders.

The stadium officials did not respond to phone calls.

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The development comes a day after a row erupted over the cancellation of booking for an October 3 event, which was to be addressed by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, by a state-run auditorium.

The Sangh and the BJP had denounced it as an act of "vengeance" but the decision was defended by the Mamata Banerjee-led government.

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It had set off a slugfest, with the official Twitter handle of the RSS alleging that it was done to "appease jihadi elements" and the TMC government saying the booking was cancelled over "safety and security" reasons as the auditorium would be under renovation and repair around that time.