Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari said on Wednesday that the BJP would hit the streets to demand a probe by the NIA into the blast in Egra.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee had said that her administration was open to an NIA inquiry into the blast at the illegal firework factory in East Midnapore.
"We will organise a massive rally in Egra in a couple of days. (At least) 25,000 people will walk with us. Our first demand is that home minister Mamata Banerjee must resign and second, we want an NIA to probe the incident," the Nandigram MLA, who visited the blast site on Wednesday, said.
Apart from taking to the streets to embarrass the state government over the blast, Adhikari plans to fight the issue in the court.
The BJP leader on Wednesday moved Calcutta High Court seeking permission to file a PIL demanding an NIA probe into the Egra massacre. The petition was moved before a division bench headed by Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam, which gave Adhikari the liberty to move the litigation.
The matter is likely to be heard on Thursday.
While official figures put the toll at nine, Adhikari's counsel Srijib Chakraborty claimed that around 12 to 15 people had died in the explosion.
According to BJP sources, Adhikari and his colleagues in the saffron camp have decided to target Mamata and hold her responsible for the administrative failure that led to the Egra incident. Bengal BJP chief Sukanta Majumdar has already written to Union home minister Amit Shah, requesting him to conduct an NIA probe into the blast. On the other hand, Adhikari blamed Mamata and said her administrative inefficiency was responsible for the explosion.
However, the chief minister preempted any chance of politicking by the BJP on the probe issue by stating that she had no objection to an NIA inquiry. Her latest stand was a marked departure from her usual opposition to suggestions of investigations by central agencies in Bengal.
Sources in the Trinamul said Mamata was confident that the party was in no way related to the incident, while the culpability of the BJP could not be ruled out on Adhikari's home turf.
To put Adhikari on the backfoot, the Trinamul wanted to play up the antecedent of Bhanu Bag, the absconding owner of the fireworks factory. They said Bag was a Trinamul member of the local panchayat between 2013 and 2018, the time when Adhikari ran the Trinamul's show in the district.
"Suvenduda should have gone slow on the Egra incident. This is a human tragedy and the chief minister has already stated that she was open to an NIA probe. He should remember that the area where the explosion took place is almost his backyard, while our leader Dilip Ghosh is the local MP," a state BJP functionary said.
He went on to add: "What if the probe finds one of our own guilty?"
Adhikari also said that Mamata was not giving money from the state government's kitty but using funds from the Centre's NDRF to provide financial aid to the victims' families. He urged the bereaved families not to receive the cheques from any MLA or Trinamul leader.
Reacting to Adhikari's claims, Trinamul's state secretary Kunal Ghosh termed the charges baseless.
"A transparent government runs in Bengal. The chief minister has already ordered action against the local IC and handed over the investigation to the CID. She is also prepared for an NIA probe. Yet Suvendu ... is making such baseless claims," Ghosh said.
Meanwhile, a Trinamul delegation led by minister Manas Bhuina and MP Dola Sen tried to visit the blast site at Khadikul village but ran into resistance by the local people. They had to abandon their visit because of the protesting villagers.
