BJP rally cancelled, West Bengal government finally gives green signal for Amit Shah's chopper to land in Jhargram

Kolkata: The West Bengal government gave the green signal for the helicopter of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah to land at a helipad in Jhargram, on the same day when the rally was cancelled by the BJP . [caption id=“attachment_5843351” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] A file photo of Amit Shah. PTI[/caption] This approval by the Mamata Banerjee-led government has come after many hiccups. However, the BJP did not confirm whether the denial of permission to land a helicopter near the venue was the only reason behind cancelling Shah’s rally. Earlier, reports said Shah was heading back to Delhi because of his ill health and was unlikely to attend the Jhargram rally. The decision from the state authorities came just hours after BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya alleged that Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee is trying to obstruct Shah’s rally. The party’s Jhargram district observer Tushar K Ghosh had also claimed that BJP sought permission for helicopter landing. However, permission was not granted till the last minute. “We had sought permission from the District Magistrate for holding a rally and helicopter landing but till last night we had not got the permission. Today, we have got permission only for the rally,” he had stated. The West Bengal government had earlier denied permission for the BJP president’s chopper to land in Malda district where he eventually held a rally on Tuesday. In its defence, the Malda district administration had stated that it was not possible to grant permission to land VVIP helicopters that week, owing to construction work. While BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad claimed that the site at which Shah was to land in Malda was used by Mamata, the West Bengal chief minister said she too had to change her landing location on the request of the state police.