A day after the Kolkata Police arrested a person for conducting a recce outside the home and office of Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee, party chief Mamata Banerjee claimed there was an attempt by the Bharatiya Janata Party to kill her nephew, reported The Indian Express.

On Monday, an unidentified official told PTI that the Kolkata Police Special Task Force and the detective department arrested a man from Mumbai identified as Rajaram Rege for conducting the recce. The official said Rege had connections with David Headley, who was convicted by a United States court in 2013 for his role in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.

Speaking at an election rally in the Tarapith town of Birbhum on Tuesday, Mamata Banerjee said: “One of the gaddars [traitors] in the BJP said that a bomb would explode. If you have a grudge against me, you can kill me with a bomb. You even tried to kill Abhishek, but we came to know in advance.”

She claimed that the arrested person called her nephew on Facetime, and sought an appointment. “Had Abhishek met him, the man would have shot Abhishek and fled,” said Mamata Banerjee.

The West Bengal chief minister was referring to a statement by Suvendu Adhikari, BJP MLA and Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly, who on Saturday said there would be a political “explosion” that would disintegrate the Trinamool Congress early next week, reported PTI.

During Tuesday’s rally, Mamata Banerjee asked why was the BJP intimidating Opposition leaders if it was confident of electoral victory.

“These people want to kill everyone or put them behind bars who speak against them,” she said. “If you were confident that you would win with peoples’ votes, then what was the need to terrorise people?”

Responding to Adhikari’s statement, the chief minister had alleged on Sunday that the BJP was targeting her and her nephew and they do not feel safe, reported The Indian Express.

“But we are also not afraid of the saffron party’s conspiracy,” she said while speaking at an election rally at Kumarganj in Balurghat. “We urge everyone to be on guard against a conspiracy against TMC leaders and the people of West Bengal.”

The Trinamool chief also alleged that the BJP was bringing in outsiders to the state to stir up trouble.

Officials of the Kolkata Police said on Monday they had arrested 53-year-old Rege from Mahim in Mumbai.

They claimed Rege was “planning something big” against Abhishek Banerjee and they suspected a possible threat to the MP’s life, according to The Indian Express.

“Rege was affiliated to the Shiv Sena and had been used by David Headley who came to India to conduct a recce of the sites that were to be targeted in 26/11 attacks of 2008,” an official from the Mumbai Police was quoted as saying by the newspaper. “To get access to the Sena Bhavan, which was on the list of targets that the LeT [Lashkar-e-Taiba] wanted to attack, Headley was in touch with Rege from the US.”