Defence Min saddened by Mamata's comments
posted on Dec 2, 2016 @ 3:53PM
Defence Minister Manohar Parikkar said on Friday that the army was conducting a routine exercise in West Bengal and the northeastern states and also rejected the allegations levelled by TMC that state government was not informed about it. The Trinamool Congress and other opposition parties raised the issue of the presence of Army personnel at toll plazas ‘in various parts’ of West Bengal in both Houses of Parliament on Friday. The Army however clarified and called the incident a ‘routine exercise.’ Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar also spoke on the issue in Parliament and said that Trinamool’s reaction to the incident was merely ‘political frustration.’ He said, “Its sad that a routine exercise has been made into a controversy now.” Parrikar added that the exercise was scheduled to happen on December 28, 29 and 30, but were shifted to December 1, 2 on the request of Kolkata police. He also accused the TMC leader and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of politicising the matter.