Trinamul Congress functionaries and workers in the Chopra Assembly segment have decided to boycott all official programmes of the North Dinajpur district committee in protest against the leadership's alleged failure to condemn the assault on local MLA by police and central forces on the day of the counting of the votes of the panchayat elections.

The decision to boycott all political events convened by Kanaialal Agarwala, the district Trinamul president, and the district committee as a whole was taken on Sunday.

“Our Chopra MLA Hamidul Rehman was mercilessly beaten up by police and central forces at the counting centre in Islampur. He suffered serious injuries and is still under treatment. Unfortunately, the district president didn’t condemn the attack. Nor did the district leadership take up any political activity in protest against the assault. That is why we have decided to abstain from all political activities conducted by him or the district unit,” said Pritiranjan Ghosh, the Chopra block president of Trinamul.

On July 12 early morning, Rehman, along with his associates, reached a counting centre in Islampur. His daughter Arjuna Begum had contested in a zilla parishad seat as an Independent (dissident Trinamul candidate).

When the MLA was stopped, he allegedly tried to barge into the counting centre forcefully. This made the police and the central forces resort to lathi-charge and Rehman and some others were injured. The MLA was taken to a local hospital and later shifted to Siliguri.

After the incident, MLA's followers held a blockade on NH12 in Chopra. The district leadership, they said, however, remained silent. In fact, Agarwala asked why Rehman had gone to the counting centre.

“He had no business there,” the district president had said.

Asked about the boycott decision, Agarwala said: “So far, I have not been officially informed about such a decision. On our part, we are gathering details of the incident (the lathi-charge). A comprehensive report on the role of different party leaders during the rural polls will be sent to the state committee.”

In North Dinajpur, Trinamul is already plagued by inner differences as Islampur MLA Abdul Karim Choudhury had gone against the party and fielded his own candidates. He had openly criticised a section of party leaders for orchestrating attacks on those candidates.

“It would be interesting to see how the party handles factionalism,” said a political observer.