'Effort to malign ': Mamata denies any 'Bengal link' to Parliament attack

Kolkata: Saying that West Bengal's name is being dragged unnecessarily, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday has hit out at the Centre over the Parliament security breach. "There is no Bengal connection in the attack. This is an effort to malign Bengal. There was lack of security. Rather, there might have been a Jharkhand connection," said Banerjee. The Trinamool Congress leader lashed out at the Narendra Modi government, calling the security breach "a serious matter." "There was a great lapse. The Union Home Minister has already admitted that. Let them investigate it," Banerjee told reporters at Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport here before leaving for Delhi.

Banerjee was referring to the Parliament terror attack mastermind Lalit Jha's alleged link to the state. Jha was involved in several NGOs in Kolkata and Bengal. He had also done his schooling from Bengal. According to Jha's brother, he was also in Kolkata a week before the attack. Jha was on the run for 24 hours before he walked into a police station in Delhi on Friday and surrendered. Soon after his arrest, BJP Bengal unit head Sukanta Majumdar posted a picture of TMC MLA Tapas Roy with Lalit Jha on X. Since then, TMC has been under fire over alleged links with the Lok Sabha terror attack mastermind.