Kolkata: West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose visited Dinhata in West Bengal’s Cooch Behar district on Wednesday, a day after a clash broke out between workers of the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), officials familiar with the matter said.
Bose arrived in Dinhata to review the situation and sought a report from the state police chief, said officials.
"The Governor has sought a report from the state police chief on the veracity of the report on the altercation and confrontation between Union minister Nisith Pramanik and state minister Udayan Guha," said a statement issued by Raj Bhavan in Kolkata.
Officials said that the clash broke out after a public meeting addressed by Union minister of state for home Nisith Paramanik was over and a rally led by state minister Udayan Guha was just about to begin nearby.
Pramanik claimed stones were hurled from the venue of the TMC’s rally at the time when his convoy was leaving the area after the meeting. He alleged that the state development minister was involved in beating BJP activists and also instructed the local police to arrest them.
Guha rejected the allegations as ‘baseless’ and claimed that BJP supporters threw stones at the TMC’s rally venue.
Several people, including some policemen, were injured in a clash between TMC and BJP workers at Dinhata town in north Bengal on Tuesday night, police said. The incident happened in the Dinhata Bazar area around 8.30pm.
The TMC lodged a complaint against 45 people, including Pramanik, in connection with the incident.
"The Model Code of Conduct is in force. The ECI will hear both sides and take a decision. A few persons have been arrested," Shashi Panja, state minister, told media persons in Kolkata.
The district administration has sent its report to the Election Commission of India (ECI) which it sought on the clash.
Meanwhile, the streets on Wednesday morning wore a deserted look after the ruling TMC called for a 24-hour bandh at Dinhata. The shops and markets remained largely closed. The bandh was withdrawn at 4pm.
In the afternoon, tension was sparked off when BJP supporters held a protest and staged a demonstration outside the office of the superintendent of police.
The BJP made deep inroads in the state in the 2019 Lok Sabha poll winning 18 out of 42 seats. In the 2021 assembly polls, the BJP bagged 30 of the 54 seats in the eight north Bengal districts although the TMC won 213 of the state’s 294 seats.
Pramanik, who had jumped ship from TMC to BJP ahead of the 2019 elections, won from Cooch Behar defeating TMC’s Paresh Chandra Adhikary.
(with PTI inputs)
"On Tuesday workers of the two parties came face to face. While TMC workers were celebrating the birthday of Guha, the BJP had organised an election campaign rally for Pramanik," said a police officer.
In 2021, Pramanik contested the West Bengal assembly polls and defeated Guha by 57 votes. The BJP, however, lost the elections and the TMC returned to power for the third time in a row with a sweeping victory.
A by-poll, however, became necessary when Pramanik, after winning the assembly elections didn’t take the oath as a legislator and chose to continue as an MP. Guha won the Dinhata assembly bypoll with a whopping margin of 164,000 votes, a record in Bengal’s Assembly poll history.
"I condemn the incident. It was a scheduled BJP rally. We were returning when suddenly TMC workers pelted stones. They flashed sharp weapons and firearms. Even my car was attacked," Pramanik said in a video message, shared by the BJP.
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