Residents of a Cooch Behar village were caught by surprise on Saturday morning when they found district Trinamool Congress president Avijit De Bhowmik driving a tractor to plough the agricultural field of BJP worker Akhil Das.

Bhowmik said he drove the tractor to nullify the BJP’s allegation that some Trinamul workers had stopped BJP supporters from carrying out agricultural activities at Gyadarchar village in Tufanganj 2 block.

“We were surprised to see him driving the tractor on the field, with Akhil sitting beside him. The ploughing was necessary as it is time to sow paddy saplings,” said Amrit Biswas, a villager.

Sources said some BJP leaders had posted a letter on social media a few days back.

The letter, which was issued on the letterhead of the TMC’s Mahishkuchi 1 panchayat and bore the signature of a booth president, said six persons, including Das, would not be allowed to plough their fields.

“It was a fake letter circulated by the BJP to malign our party. That is why I went to the village in Mahishkuchi 1 panchayat and ploughed the paddy field of a BJP worker. We never impose such restrictions,” said the district TMC president.

Das said: “I thank him for taking the initiative. It will give us confidence to continue farming our land.”

District BJP leaders were not ready to buy Bhowmik’s theory. Utpal Das, a district vice-president of the BJP who is based in Tufanganj, said Bhowmik had no business ploughing the field of a BJP worker.

“He knows some local TMC leaders had stopped our workers from ploughing paddy fields. That was why he tried to control the damage today. In different parts of Cooch Behar, such restrictions have been imposed on our workers to put them in distress,” said Utpal Das.

Ankita post

Ankita Adhikary, the daughter of former minister Paresh Adhikary, was nominated as a district secretary of Trinamool in Cooch Behar on Friday.

Ankita’s name hit the headlines in 2022 after she lost her schoolteacher’s job following orders of Calcutta High Court. Adhikary, who is the TMC MLA of Mekhliganj, was the minister of state for education.

Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, Ankita worked with her father in the Mekhliganj Assembly segment which is part of the Jalpaiguri Lok Sabha seat.

Although the BJP won the Jalpaiguri seat for the second time, Trinamool secured a lead of 2,818 votes in Mekhliganj.