Cooch Behar: The Cooch Behar Lok Sabha election is just a day away and tensions are rising in various areas of the constituency. The BJP has been accused of setting fire to the Trinamool Congress’ (TMC) party office and obstructing TMC’s election campaign, leading to vandalism of vehicles.
On Tuesday night, the BJP was accused of setting fire to a Trinamool Congress office in Sitalkuchi, Cooch Behar district, escalating tensions. Tapan Guha, president of Sitalkuchi Block Trinamool
Congress, alleged: “There was a Trinamool meeting in Sitalkuchi on Tuesday, attended by a large number of workers and common people. BJP-backed miscreants set fire to our office out of fear of losing.” In response, BJP Cooch Behar district vice-president Manoj Ghosh dismissed the allegation as completely false, asserting that Trinamool was
fabricating accusations against BJP by setting fire to their own party office.
Meanwhile, the BJP was accused of attacking Trinamool Congress during its campaign in Dinhata’s Vetaguri area on Tuesday. It is alleged that one person was seriously injured and two cars had their windows broken. Trinamool Congress staged a sit-in protest in front of the Dinhata Police Station, filing a complaint. Injured Trinamool leader Joydeep Ghosh accused several BJP goons, led by BJP leaders Ratan Barman and Ajit Mahanta, of attacking their election campaign while chanting ‘Jai Shri Ram.’
North Bengal Development minister Udayan Guha said: “Our campaign vehicle was attacked today in the presence of state police and central forces in Vetaguri. I will request the Governor to inquire about this incident when he visits Cooch Behar.”
However, BJP denied the allegations. Cooch Behar district BJP secretary Ajay Roy dismissed the accusations as baseless, claiming that
Trinamool has no organisational strength in Vetaguri and is resorting to intimidation tactics.