Kolkata, April 4 – A suspicious drone was spotted near the helicopter of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Malatipur, Malda district, on Saturday, while she was there to address a campaign rally ahead of the crucial two-phase state assembly elections later this month.
The Chief Minister herself spotted the drone while getting into the helicopter after finishing her address in Malatipur. She immediately directed the police officers present at the scene to investigate the origin of the drone.
“The police need to be vigilant about such things. Those responsible need to be identified,” the West Bengal Chief Minister was reportedly heard saying.
Mamata Banerjee was scheduled to attend three public meetings in Malda on Saturday.
After the first meeting in Manikchak, she held the second meeting in Malatipur.
After this meeting, the Chief Minister was leaving for her next destination, Gazole. At that time, a drone was seen flying in front of the helipad where Mamata Banerjee's helicopter was parked.
Seeing this, she asked the police to keep a close watch on the situation.
The Congress candidate from Malatipur this time is former Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha member, Mausam Benazir Noor, who recently left the Trinamool Congress and rejoined the Congress.
Before joining the Trinamool Congress just before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, she was a Congress Lok Sabha member twice from the Malda (Uttar) constituency in the same district.
In 2019, she contested from Malda (Uttar) as a Trinamool Congress candidate and was defeated.
Addressing the campaign rally at Malatipur, the Chief Minister indirectly described Noor as a traitor, without naming her, and said that she could not honor the trust placed in her by the party that sent her to the Upper House of Parliament.
“The people of Malda will never forgive those who betray the party. After the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, since there was no representative from Malda in the Lok Sabha, we sent a representative from this district to the Rajya Sabha. She herself was defeated in Malda in 2019. She was a long-standing member. She joined another party just before the elections this time... I have no objection to that. But people will not forgive such deserters. She could not become an MP by contesting the elections. She won with the votes of the MLAs. She also got my vote. I myself could not go to the Rajya Sabha in my life. Despite getting so many opportunities, she chose this time to oppose the party,” the Chief Minister said.