BJP said, TMC has crossed the misrule of Left; TMC counterattack – News18

Senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad on Friday accused the ruling Trinamool Congress of unleashing a reign of terror after the West Bengal panchayat polls and said TMC’s misrule was more than the previous Left government in the state.

A four-member fact-finding team of the BJP in West Bengal, led by a former Union minister, has been visiting the state for the last two days to probe the violence during the panchayat polls.

Prasad, who is visiting Coochbehar, one of the most violence-hit districts of the state, said this cycle of violence must end. Is this a sign of democracy? Many people were killed and rendered homeless in the post-poll violence. He told reporters here that the misrule of the TMC has crossed all limits of misrule and tyranny, which was once identified with the erstwhile Left Front rule in the state.

Criticizing the state administration for failing to protect workers and supporters of opposition parties, he said, “Does voting for other political parties get bullets in Bengal.”

In a democracy everyone has the right to vote freely and fairly. But does it mean that those who vote for or support opposition parties will get shot or become homeless? They said.

Several senior BJP leaders have been demanding the imposition of Section 355 in the state, citing the killings of over 38 people during the rural election process since last month. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee claimed that 19 people, mostly from her TMC, were killed in poll-related violence since the election date was announced on June 8.

Police sources, however, put the death toll at 38, but agree that at least 60 per cent of those who lost their lives were linked to the TMC. Meanwhile, senior TMC minister Shashi Panja, along with party spokesperson Kunal Ghosh, visited Nandigram to meet party workers who are facing the wrath of the opposition BJP, which won gram panchayat seats in the symbolic constituency.

BJP is talking about violence. But the party has spread violence in some parts of the state and Nandigram. He said, a woman worker of TMC was tied to a tree by BJP goons and beaten up. Ghosh was seen staging a protest in Nandigram demanding immediate arrest of the culprits. TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee went to SSKM to meet the injured from Nandigram, who were admitted there.

(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI,