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News Desk: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday alleged that bombs were hurled at its camp office and residence of party workers in West Bengal’s Panihati. A BJP leader blamed the ruling Trinamool Congress for the ‘attack’, saying it ‘they know they’re losing the polls.’
“Police are acting as mere spectators,” Sanmoy Banerjee, the BJP candidate from the Panihati constituency, also said.
The miscreants arrived on bikes in front of the BJP camp office on BT Road, Sodepur Swadeshi Chowk, and hurled at least five bombs. Police recovered one bomb after failed to detonate. Blaming TMC, the BJP workers then vandalised the TMC office.
Another BJP candidate was shot at by unidentified assailants at Malda in North Bengal late on Sunday night. Gopal Chandra Saha, 46, has been admitted to Malda Medical College and Hospital and is undergoing treatment.
Local BJP leaders said the incident happened around 9pm when Saha was sitting at the party office after his roadshow while dozens of BJP workers and supporters were waiting outside. They claimed that an unknown person opened fire at the Saha. “Suddenly, we heard a gunshot. Someone from the crowd had fired and the bullet hit Saha at the back of his neck. He was rushed to the hospital where he underwent a surgery,” said Satyajit Halder, a booth level BJP leader from Saha’s constituency, who was present at the spot.
Following the incident, BJP’s youth wing leaders and workers set tyres on fire at national highway-34 and staged a protest.
The fresh round of clash between BJP and TMC leaders comes a day after the state held the fifth round of voting for the West Bengal assembly elections. The next round of polling will take place on April 26 and April 29 respectively. The votes will be counted on May 6.
Both parties have a major rivalry in West Bengal which often results in violent clashes. It intensified since the announcement of state elections as BJP is hoping to wrest power from the ruling TMC after emerging as a second-biggest party during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
