Kolkata: The Bharatiya Janata Party has moved an appeal before a division bench of Calcutta High Court challenging the West Bengal government's decision to not give permission to a planned Rath Yatra here.
The matter will be heard by a bench comprising Justices B Somadder and A Mukherjee after noon on Friday.
A day earlier, a single bench of the Calcutta HC had refused to grant permission to BJP to hold a Rath Yatra in Coochbehar. It was scheduled to be flagged off by BJP president Amit Shah on Friday but was put off after HC refused to give permission on the grounds that it could cause communal tensions. While state BJP leaders had said they respect the court's decision, some of them also questioned if the state's security machinery is weak. "If the government says that it can't maintain law and order if we take out Rath Yatra, then I think Governor's Rule should be immediately imposed in the state," Mukul Roy of the party had said.
Meanwhile, a poster war between BJP and the ruling TMC is visible across the state. While the BJP has put up posters on the Rath Yatra programme and welcoming Shah, the TMC has posters saying "Only Lord Madan Mohan can ride the Rath and BJP's Rath Yatra program is an attempt to ignite communal tensions".
The Madan Mohan Temple in the town, which was once the capital of the princely state of Coochbehar, is one of the biggest temples of the district.
(With PTI inputs)
