BJP workers marched to the Manikchak block development officer (BDO)'s office in the district on Saturday in protest against alleged political discrimination in distributing relief materials among flood-affected people on the Bhutni islet.

The swollen Ganga flooded at least 20 villages on the Bhutni islet in the block, damaging roads and inundating houses and agricultural fields. Around 20,000 people were affected by the floods.

The Ganga was flowing above the extreme danger level on Saturday in the Manikchak block, which is on the left bank of the river.

Led by the BJP's Malda south (organisational) district president Parthasarathi Ghosh, hundreds of party workers reached the BDO's office in a procession. Police had placed barricades at the entrance to the BDO office. The BJP workers tried to remove the barricades forcibly but the police resisted their attempt.

Gour Chandra Mandal, a BJP district general secretary, said the block administration had been distributing relief materials in the flood-hit areas according to the directives of Manikchak Trinamool Congress MLA Sabitri Mitra and her son-in-law Saumadip Sarkar.

“This is a brazen example of Trinamool's politics. When different areas of the block are being flooded, there is a bias in the distribution of relief materials. Adequate relief is denied to BJP-run panchayats in the Manikchak block,” said Mandal.

The police allowed a delegation of the BJP to meet the BDO who was presented with a memorandum that sought proper distribution of relief materials to the flood victims.

Dulal Sarkar, a district general secretary of the TMC, said: “The BJP doesn't care about people. The administration is trying to reach out to every affected person in Manikchak block.”