BJP’s Nandigram candidate Suvendu Adhikari was busy in his constituency on Thursday hopping from one place of worship to another, but he was conspicuous in his silence over his rival and chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s injury suffered during a public outreach programme at Birulia Bazar in the constituency on Wednesday evening.

The silence of Suvendu, who had been otherwise consistent in his attack on Mamata at all his public programmes, was eloquent and a section in the BJP linked it to the diktat from the party’s central leadership on how to respond to the incident.

“Suvenduda went to the Tilakeswar temple in Sonachura and Mahadev temple in Parulbari, beside a few other temples in Nandigram. Journalists present on these sites asked him about Mamata’s injury multiple times, but all he said was ‘Om Shanti’,” a source close to the BJP leader said.

The source also added that Suvendu’s silence was a deliberate strategy. “He has been in an all-out attacking mood. He has gone after Mamata and mocked her on every occasion. If he reacted in a similar manner after her accident, it wouldn’t have gone down well with the electorate,” the close aide to Suvendu added.

Throughout the day, the former member of Mamata’s cabinet did not hold political programmes and kept himself busy with religious events related to Mahashivratri event, which was celebrated on Thursday.

Suvendu’s silence, a source close to him said, was because of a dilemma on whether attacking Mamata would result in generating sympathy for her and that’s why he chose to follow the Delhi diktat for the time being.

The fact that the saffron camp is in two minds on what the right way to handle the issue of Mamata’s injury should be was evident in the statements made by state BJP leaders in Calcutta as well. While a section of the leaders attacked Mamata for “enacting a drama to gain sympathy before the polls”, another section clearly steered clear of politicising the issue.

A source in the BJP said Union home minister Amit Shah had asked state party leaders to refrain from making derogatory comments on the incident. However, state BJP chief Dilip Ghosh appeared to be unaware of Shah’s instructions.

“She had no way to return from Nandigram. That is why she created this drama…She will lose Nandigram and lose all of Bengal,” Ghosh told journalists.

Ghosh went on to say Mamata had been instigating her supporters against the BJP by making false claims. “We don’t want to politicise the issue either. But, if she is telling lies and playing political games from one side, why won’t the others play politics too?” Ghosh added.

Seven posts related to the incident have been made on the official Twitter handles of Bengal BJP since Thursday night. Most of the posts carry videos where eyewitnesses have claimed that no one pushed Mamata intentionally and what happened was at best “an accident” and not a conspiracy. Invoking politics, all these posts suggested that Mamata had blamed the people of Nandigram and brought disrepute upon them.

BJP’s IT cell chief and co-minder for Bengal Amit Malviya tweeted a video that shows two statements from Mamata — one on Wednesday just after the accident when she had said there was a conspiracy behind the incident and another which she had issued from the hospital on Thursday, where she didn’t talk about any plot — and pointed out her alleged contradiction.

“We wish Pishi a fast recovery. But it is amusing to see her contradict her own ‘attack’ theory and attribute the injury to a mishap, while campaigning, in less than 24 hours!” he tweeted.

Another Trinamul turncoat and BJP MP Arjun Singh had said Mamata was trying to gain sympathy through her drama.

Sources in the saffron camp said the BJP’s dilemma on how to handle the issue became evident when chief spokesperson for the party, Samik Bhattacharya, along with party colleague Tathagata Roy, visited SSKM Hospital in Calcutta on Thursday.

The leaders, who were greeted with “go back” slogan by Trinamul workers present there, had to return without meeting Mamata as minister Arup Biswas told them that doctors had advised her total rest. Later in the day, BJP MP Locket Chatterjee went to the hospital but had to return without meeting the injured chief minister.

“We wish her a speedy recovery and want the matter to be investigated. We will not politicise the issue and this is the party’s official stand,” said Samik when asked why leaders from his party were reacting differently to Wednesday’s incident. He added that a BJP team met the chief electoral officer (CEO) on Thursday seeking an investigation into the incident.

“We have also written to the CEO and urged him to order a detailed inquiry into the matter. We have also said that the video footage of the incident must be made available in the public domain,” Bhattacharya added questioning how the incident might have taken place when the director and additional director, security, were both present at the site.