Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath Tuesday accused Mamata Banerjee of exploiting the poor in West Bengal being only interested in saving a "corrupt" officer allegedly involved in the Saradha ponzi scam.

Adityanath, who travelled by road to this West Bengal town to address a rally after flying to Bokaro in neighbouring Jharkhand, also referred to the Supreme Court's order directing Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar to"faithfully" cooperate with the CBI in the investigation of the Saradha scam.

He questioned why West Bengal Chief Minister Banerjee was trying to protect the police officer. "You must have seen how she is trying to save a corrupt officer. Nothing can be more shameful, undemocratic and unconstitutional than a chief minister of a state sitting on a dharna (sit-in protest) to ensure that secrets of corruption don't spill out," Adityanath alleged.

Calling the TMC government in West Bengal as "corrupt and undemocratic", he criticised Banerjee for not allowing benefits of central schemes to be passed on to the people of the state.  Earlier in the day, Banerjee had said the Uttar Pradesh chief minister should concentrate on his own state.