The Trinamul Congress-BJP turf war over control of the industrial belt in North 24-Parganas is likely to race closer to Calcutta as several areas in Barrackpore, Titagurh and Khardah, between 18km to 25km from the heart of the city, erupted following the murder of BJP activist Manish Shukla, a close aide to Barrackpore MP Arjun Singh.

The battle for political control of the areas had begun from the backyard of Bhatpara, home to Singh, soon after the Trinamul turncoat had wrested the Barrackpore Lok Sabha seat from his former party in the 2019 general election.

“Large parts of Singh’s constituency, like Bhatpara, Jagaddal, Naihati and Kankinara, had remained in a state of strife because of Trinamul-BJP conflict... Now, we will have to live with the same problem,” said a retired teacher of a Barrackpore school.

A law graduate, Shukla had associations with the CPM, Congress and Trinamul. Since joining the BJP within months of Singh winning the Barrackpore Lok Sabha, he had become a crucial cog in the party’s poll machinery because of his local connect and the image of a strongman.

“He used to introduce himself as a social worker, but Shukla had multiple criminal cases, including murder charges, against him... He was a strongman and had thousands of youths as his followers in the industrial belt, where unemployment is the biggest problem,” said a senior police officer.

As a young Hindi-speaking youth, he would often help the working class and the underprivileged through charity shows and donations.

Several Trinamul insiders admit that Shukla had played a role in ensuring victory of Shilbhadra Dutta, the ruling party’s nominee in the last Assembly polls from the Barrackpore seat.

“Shukla could control these bands of youths... With his death, there will be a clamour to get these youths as the polls are nearing. People would change sides and more conflicts will follow as we are heading towards a do-or-die election,” said a senior district official.

Sources said Shukla was with Singh on Sunday as they had attended a meeting at Howrah’s Amta. The two were supposed to return together till Singh decided to meet BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya and Shukla chose to head to Titagurh alone.

“Shukla was very close to me. I had brought him over to the BJP after months of my winning the Lok Sabha polls. That was a part of the strategy,” Singh told The Telegraph on Monday.

“It pains me that I couldn’t be with him when he needed me the most. It’s a plain murder committed jointly by Trinamul and the police,” he added.

The Criminal Investigation Department has taken over the probe into the murder. CID officers visited the spot where he was gunned down and collected evidence before heading to NRS Medical college where the post-morterm was carried out.

“It appears those who gunned down Shukla had specific intelligence about his movements and his routine,” said a CID officer while adding that Shukla’s security guard had gone on leave a week ago. “We have collected all details from the local police station. Hopefully, we will get the killers soon.”

The manner in which the BJP held protests across North 24-Parganas and the heart of the city leaves little doubt that the party will try to keep the issue alive till the Assembly polls.

Trinamul has rejected the charges and blamed internal conflict in the saffron camp for the murder.