Police on Thursday prevented the leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, and alleged victims of post-poll violence from entering Raj Bhavan to meet governor C.V. Ananda Bose, citing the imposition of Section 144 of the CrPC in the area.

The incident occurred around 4pm when Adhikari headed towards Raj Bhavan, along with a bus full of people allegedly affected by post-election violence.

They had come from Canning, Jadavpur, Bhangar, Uluberia, and Kultali to lodge a complaint with the governor.

Adhikari said that the police blocked their way near Raj Bhavan but gave no explanation as to why they were stopped.

Adhikari, who threatened to move court against the police’s “arbitrary” decision to stop him, said: “The governor gave me an appointment and the police violated his instructions. I waited for an hour but the police didn’t allow me inside.”

Earlier, the BJP MLA and leader of Opposition in the Bengal Assembly had moved court regarding post-poll violence following which Calcutta High Court on Wednesday allowed central forces to remain in the state till June 21.

The court has also asked for details on the measures taken by the state police to address the situation, with a report to be submitted by Friday, June 14.

Adhikari said he had communicated with Raj Bhavan officials and they informed him that the governor had asked for a report from the state home secretary.

“We were not conducting any rally here. We have brought around 200 victims (of post-poll violence), whom the governor allowed to come to Raj Bhavan,” he added.

The police, however, said that as Section 144 of the CrPC prohibits large gatherings and was currently in force outside the governor’s house “we cannot allow so many people to enter Raj Bhavan premises”.

The BJP state leadership, however, accused the police of playing a partisan role.

“There cannot be two rules — one for the ruling party (Trinamool) and one for the Opposition. Last year, Abhishek Banerjee sat on a dharna outside Raj Bhawan. He was allowed and then Section 144 was not in force. In case of the BJP, however, it becomes a violation of the prohibitory rules,” a senior BJP leader remarked.

Although Adhikari hit the streets in the evening giving a strong message that as a leader he would take on Trinamool, the Nandigram MLA had in the morning raised eyebrows when he seemed to accuse a section of his own party leaders of creating fissures within the ranks.

Adhikari, who was criticised in the party for the BJP’s poor show in the recently concluded Lok Sabha election in Bengal in which it won 12 seats, said: “If the outcome is good, they take credit. If it’s bad, they blame me.”

"I have never said anything publicly," Adhikari added. "I work for the Bharatiya Janata Party and here some people reward and some criticise me. People post many things, make sarcastic comments but I cannot divulge the party's internal matters," he said.

Although Adhikari didn't take any name, many said that he was hinting at former state president Dilip Ghosh, who has been training his guns against the present Bengal BJP leadership and claiming that they should take responsibility of the performance of the party in the election.

Ghosh, in his recent social media post "Old is Gold," subtly suggested that the neglect of senior leaders within the party might have contributed to their poor electoral performance of the Bengal BJP.

"The old leaders were sent to constituencies where they were likely to be defeated. Our strategy has always been to reclaim seats where we previously lost, but now it seems we are deliberately trying to lose the seats we could have won," Ghosh said, alluding to the decision to move him from his secure seat, Medinipur, to the unfamiliar constituency of Bardhaman-Durgapur in this election.

Not only did Ghosh lose to the TMC there, the BJP also lost Medinipur, with Agnimitra Paul defeated by the TMC's June Malia. In 2019, Ghosh won from Medinipur, but was denied a ticket in that seat this time.

BJP MP Jagannath Sarkar seconded Ghosh.