BJP and Trinamul supporters had a tense face-off in an Alipurduar village on Saturday, a few hours after hutments of five BJP supporters were gutted on Friday night.

Police rushed to Deogaon village in Falakata block to bring the situation under control.

Sources said that on Friday night, after the hutments of the five BJP supporters were gutted in Deogaon, the party blamed local Trinamul supporters for the "arson". Trinamul, however, called the blaze an accident and denied any role in it.

On Saturday, Manoj Tigga, the BJP candidate of Alipurduar Lok Sabha constituency, along with Deepak Barman, the BJP MLA of Falakata, reached the village. However, the moment they reached, some Trinamul supporters started shouting “go back” slogans at the BJP lawmakers.

The duo and other party supporters accompanying them had a verbal duel with Trinamul demonstrators. More BJP supporters arrived at the spot and resorted to counter-sloganeering.

“Trinamul is behind the arson. Five houses of our supporters and a two-wheeler were set on fire. The party has understood that it will not be able to win the Alipurduar seat this time and is thus resorting to violence to intimidate our people,” alleged Barman, also the party’s convener in north Bengal.

In 2019, the BJP won the Alipurduar seat with a margin of around 2.43 lakh votes.

Trinamul supporters, on the other hand, alleged that the charges were baseless and that the BJP was simply trying to instigate villagers against the state's ruling party.

“That is why we demonstrated before the BJP Lok Sabha candidate and the local MLA. It seems to be a case of an accidental fire. But now, the BJP is doing politics over it and blaming us for no reason. They are misleading people,” said Sanjoy Das, the Trinamul president of Falakata block.

As the sloganeering continued from both sides, a police team reached the village and managed to disperse the crowd.

Y. Raghuvamshi, the superintendent of police of Alipurduar, said that police officers visited the area after the fire and fire engines doused the flames.

“We have begun a probe into the cause of the fire. So far, no political connection has been found in the blaze,” the SP said.

An officer said the police were keeping an eye on the village to prevent any flare-up.