A Trinamul leader from Alipurduar was shot on his leg in the small hours of Friday while on his way to Siliguri while another BJP leader said he missed bullets fired at him in Cooch Behar on Thursday.
The Cooch Behar incident trigged violence in the districts’s Mathabhanga subdivision on Friday evening.
Manoranjan Dey, the sahokari sabhadhipati of Alipurduar Zilla Parishad and the president of Trinamul’s Alipurduar-1 block committee had got of his car to answer nature’s call near College More at Malbazar in Jalpaiguri on NH31 around 2am.
“As soon as he off the car, some people arrived in another car and fired three rounds at Dey. Though Dey tried to flee, he was hit on his leg by a bullet,” said a source.
Dey’s security guard and another passenger in the car rushed the profusely bleeding leader to a private nursing home in Siliguri.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee and her party’s poll strategist Prashant Kishor spoke to Dey on Friday. His condition is reportedly stable.
State tourism minister Gautam Deb, and one of the party’s tallest leaders in north Bengal, blamed the BJP for the attack. “We had suspected that the BJP will attack our prominent leaders from the region as they do not want a peaceful election. Dey is one of the pillars of our party in Alipurduar. BJP is bringing in culture of violence in our region,” said Deb.
The Alipurduar Trinamul town block committee also organised a rally in town today to protest the decision.
Wangden Bhutia, ASP, Jalpaiguri (rural) said that they had sent a team to Siliguri to take Dey’s statement.
Ganga Prasad Sharma, the BJP district president from Alipurduar, denied all allegations. “None of us are involved in this incident, which may actually be a fallout of either business rivalry or an internal party conflict.”
The BJP claimed the general secretary of Cooch Behar district committee, Avijit Barman, was fired at on Thursday, but had a narrow escape.
“TMC attacked BJP supporters in parts of Mathabhanga area and hurled bombs at us. I had gone to the police station yesterday (Thursday) to file that complaint. On my way back some people shot at me near Sutunga bridge. The bullets missed me and hit my vehicle,” alleged Barman.
On Friday afternoon BJP supporters held protests at Mathabanga after which violence erupted in the subdivision town.
“When our party supporters went to demonstrate in front of Mathabhanga police station, Trinamul supporters attacked our people, hurled bombs and fired at us. The police did not intervene,” Malati Rava Roy, the president of BJP’s Cooch Behar district committee, alleged.
Binay Krishna Barman, the state minister for backward class welfare department, denied Roy’s charges.
“BJP supporters vandalised properties in Mathabhanga and ransacked three of our Trinamul party offices. They attacked our workers and hurled bombs. Such hooliganism of BJP workers will not be tolerated,” Barman said.