­The BJP on Thursday described the killing of party leader Suvendu Adhikari’s close aide, Chandranath Rath, as a “planned political murder” and claimed that it was designed to cause instability in the state.

“It was a targeted violence… By the killing, did the assailants want to send a political message to the BJP or was it intended for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is arriving in Kolkata in two days?… Our restraint should not be mistaken for weakness,” state BJP president Samik Bhattacharya told mediapersons after he reached Barasat Hospital, where the post-mortem of Rath was carried out.

Adhikari’s executive assistant, Rath, was shot dead by bike-borne assailants who intercepted his vehicle near Doltala in Madhyamgram around 10.30 pm on Wednesday, forced it to stop, and opened fire at point-blank range before fleeing.

The BJP chief linked Rath’s killing to a broader pattern of post-poll violence, pointing to the recent deaths of three BJP workers and another in Basirhat who was shot at.

The TMC has denied involvement in the killing and alleged that BJP-backed miscreants had killed three of its workers over the preceding three days.

The TMC, in a statement on X, said, “We strongly condemn the brutal murder of Chandranath Rath in Madhyamgram tonight, along with the killing of three other TMC workers in incidents of post-poll violence allegedly carried out by BJP-backed miscreants over the last three days, despite the Model Code of Conduct being in force.”

“We demand the strongest possible action in this matter, including a court-monitored CBI investigation so that those responsible are identified and brought to justice without delay. Violence and political killings have no place in a democracy and the guilty must be held accountable at the earliest,” the TMC said.

The CPI(M) called for a detailed investigation into the killing.