"I feel ashamed to talk to such a prime minister who has blood on his hands," she said. "Narendra Modi and Amit Shah are trying to organise a coup in the state as we had organised the opposition rally on January 19. We were aware that the CBI will attack us after we organised the rally," Banerjee said, referring to the Brigade rally attended by leaders of about 20 opposition parties.
Banerjee said the CBI's action is politically vindictive. "Our government arrested chit fund owners when we came to power. It is we who formed an SIT to probe the matter," she said in a hurriedly-called press conference outside Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar's residence.
She has also begun a dharna near the Metro Cinema in central Kolkata.
"I am proud to say that my responsibility is to give protection to the force. Without notice, you are coming to Kolkata Police Commissioner's house. We could have arrested CBI but we left. I will stand with my force. I respect them. I felt very sad today.
"I am going to stage a dharna to save the federal structure. From today I'm going to sit near the Metro Channel. Tomorrow proceedings in state assembly will take place where I will hold a meeting. This dharna means satyagraha," Banerjee said.
Banerjee asked all opposition parties to unite to bring down the Modi government and, in a rare exhortation by a political leader, called upon personnel of security forces of the Centre and states, besides the Army, to "condemn" the attitude of the Modi government.
In an unprecedented development, a number of CBI officers, who had gone to question Kolkata Police chief Rajeev Kumar in connection with chit fund scam cases, were bundled into police jeeps, whisked to a police station and detained on Sunday.
Amidst escalating tension between West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the Centre, Loudon Street in central Kolkata witnessed a virtual showdown between the state police and the CBI.
As politics played out on the street, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee rushed to the residence of Kumar. She had earlier extended her support to Kumar and alleged that the BJP was "misusing power to take control of the police and all other institutions".
In a tit-for-tat move, a team of Kolkata Police officials also cordoned off the CGO Complex- the state headquarters of CBI.
CBI officer Srivastava said, "I have also been detained and there are police officers standing outside my house."
Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Pravin Tripathi said the CBI officers have been let go from the police station after questioning. "They just said they had come for a secret operation. We don't know what kind of operation it is," Tripathi said.
While the agency sources claimed that some of its men were forcibly taken away from Kumar's Loudon Street residence and arrested, a senior police officer denied the claim and said they have been taken to the police station to check if they had the documents required for questioning Kumar.
Later in the evening, central forces arrived at the CBI office in Kolkata. Subsequently Kolkata Police personnel vacated the compound.
The city police commissioner, who appeared briefly outside his residence after the chief minister's press conference, said he would talk to the media Monday. He was also seen at the dharna site of the chief minister.
Speaking at the dharna site, Banerjee said leaders of several opposition parties have called her up to extend their support and solidarity towards her "fight to protect the Constitution".
"Leaders of various opposition parties, including Akhilesh Yadav Samajwadi Party), Tejashwi Yadav (RJD), Chandrababu Naidu (TDP), Omar Abdullah (NC), Ahmed Patel (Congress) and M K Stalin (DMK), have called me to extend their solidarity and support," she said.
In Delhi, the Congress said the CBI action in Kolkata was clearly "mala fide" and an "assault" on the federal polity.
(With PTI inputs)