The BJP on Thursday accused West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of running a "dictatorship" in the state as it moved court seeking permission for a 'rath yatra', scheduled to start from December 7 in the presence of its president Amit Shah.

The party moved the Calcutta High Court after the state government denied it permission for the yatra.

BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said Banerjee, also the president of the Trinamool Congress, was busy playing "politics of appeasement" and that is why her government blocked programmes of Shah and RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat earlier.

"We are often forced to move court for seeking permission. Courts reprimand the state government every time, but she does not learn her lessons because she is busy with politics of appeasement," Patra told reporters at a press conference.

She is running a dictatorship, he alleged.

Shah, he noted, has said that the BJP will win 26 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president is scheduled to kick-start the party's 'Save Democracy Rally', comprising three 'rath yatra', in the state.