A BJP MLA and a state minister faced protests in Cooch Behar and Jalpaiguri on Sunday during their visits.

Nikhil Ranjan Dey, the MLA of the Cooch Behar south Assembly seat, had to face black-flag protests by alleged Trinamul supporters as he reached Palpara of the Cooch Behar-I block.

Sources said Dey went there to attend a booth-level meeting of the party. Soon after his arrival, some people assembled nearby and started shouting “go back” slogans while waving black flags.

At this, BJP supporters turned irate and the situation turned tense. Dey called up the police. A police team went to the spot. Both the demonstration and meeting continued in police presence.

“A group of Trinamul-backed goons assembled near our meeting place and tried to attack us as in the Lok Sabha and Assembly polls here, the BJP was ahead of Trinamul. As the panchayat election is drawing close, Trinamul is trying to foment tension and intimidate people,” said MLA Dey.

After the meeting, he left the spot, with policemen still posted in the area.

Local Trinamul leaders termed Sunday’s demonstration as a spontaneous protest by residents.

“The MLA and his party workers didn’t stand by people during natural disasters. Aggrieved people demonstrated during his visit. There was no one from our party at the spot,” claimed a Trinamul leader.

In Jalpaiguri, Bulu Chik Baraik, the state minister of backward classes development and tribal welfare, had to face the ire of people as he reached some villages of Dhupguri block on Sunday.

Accompanied by party leaders, Baraik reached Gadong-I panchayat as Didir Doot (Mamata’s emissary). There, local residents alleged that in the past few years, acres of agricultural land had been eroded by the Dudua river.

“Trinamul leaders and elected representatives visited us and promised that an embankment would be built here to guard our land. Nothing has happened till date,” said Bulbul Islam, a villager, as some others echoed him.

A section of residents also said that despite making rounds at the BDO office, their names were not included as beneficiaries of different social welfare schemes.

The minister listened to them and said he would take the needed steps. He instructed party leaders of the block to help villagers get benefits from various schemes.

“We are paying these visits to directly listen to the people’s problems. There is a clear instruction from our party leadership that we should put in these efforts so that issues related to common people are resolved,” the minister said.