According to the party, the injured leader, Saraswati Sarkar, is its Kasba mandal president. The TMC, however, has denied the allegation and claimed that Sarkar was attacked as BJP workers had clashed with local slum dwellers.
In her complaint at Anandpur police station, Sarkar has alleged that she and her party worker were putting up election banners in Kolkata Dakshin Lok Sabha constituency on Saturday night when they were allegedly assaulted by TMC workers with sharp-edged weapons.
The BJP has claimed that Sarkar and three other BJP workers were attacked by a machete. She sustained serious injuries on her head and was rushed to hospital for treatment, they added.
The party also alleged that TMC councillor of ward number 108 Sushant Ghosh was behind the attack on Sarkar. BJP’s South Kolkata district president Anupam Bhattacharya said, “The Trinamool is scared with the response that our candidates and workers are getting during campaigning. Because of that fear, Trinamool-backed miscreants have attacked our mandal president and workers.”
“TMC councillor of ward number 108 and the chairman of borough number 10 Sushant Ghosh is behind the attack on our mandal president. Anandpur police are not taking any action against him because he is an influential leader in the area,” he added. On Sunday morning, BJP workers led by the party’s Kolkata Dakshin Lok Sabha seat Debashree Chowdhury sat on a dharna outside the Anandpur police station,
Reacting to the allegations, TMC’s Sushant Ghosh said, “As far as we know the incident happened after 11.30 pm. According to the rules of the Election Commission, campaigning for votes cannot be done at night. What happened was wrong, but our party has no connection with the incident. I have come to know that BJP leaders and workers clashed with the slum dwellers of that area. There is no question of TMC’s involvement in this.”
“We demand punishment for whoever is involved in the incident. Irrespective of which party’s members were injured, the police and the administration should take action against the accused,” he added.
Meanwhile, Amit Malviya, BJP’s IT cell head and co-in-charge of West Bengal, posted on X, “Spoke to Saraswati Sarkar. She is a strong woman, who refuses to be cowed down by local TMC councillor Sushanta Ghosh, who is exerting undue influence on Anandpur OC, to dilute the case. Kolkata Police has applied bailable charges and hasn’t even arrested the culprits, who attacked Sarkar and other BJP members with a machete.”
Voting in Kolkata Dakshin will be held in the last phase of the Lok Sabha elections on June 1. The Trinamool Congress has fielded sitting MP Mala Roy from the seat.