Home Minister Amit Shah, while campaigning for the assembly election in West Bengal today cancelled his first stop and delivered his speech virtually instead, blaming it on a technical snag in his helicopter. Trinamool Congress led by Mamata Banerjee claimed that the “snag” was really a case of poor turnout.

While addressing the rally in Jhargram via video from Kharagpur, Amit Shah said, “I was going to come here for campaigning. Unfortunately, my helicopter was damaged and I could not come to see you.”

“My helicopter developed a snag but I would not call it a conspiracy,” he added in an apparent dig at Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who alleged last week that her leg was crushed by the door of her SUV when a crowd pressed into it in Nandigram, and called it an “attack”.

Also See: Would West Bengal election really be a three-way fight after the defections?

Soon after that, came the rebuttal from the TMC-camp. Addressing a rally in west Midnapur, Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee said that Jhargram was “easily” reachable by road.

The TMC MP, who has been many times blamed for nepotism, also said, “Those who attend rallies in the afternoon in this heat, they do not come to hear speeches. The home minister had a rally in Jhargram, but he could not reach his meeting due to a technical snag. But the images I have seen from the rally where BJP national leaders are coming; the local tea stalls in villages have more crowds than their rallies.”

Trinamool Congress posted images of what it called thin crowds and empty chairs at the Jhargram rally site. The party said that the thin crowds prompted the last-minute change of plans by the Home Minister.