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One dead, 1 injured ahead of polls in Bengal’s North 24 Parganas
A portion of a house caved in following an explosion inside a house in a residential colony inhabited mostly by jute mill workers at Titagarh in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas. Police suspect that crude bombs were being made when the explosion took place
A man was killed, and another person injured when a portion of a house caved in following an explosion inside a house in a residential colony inhabited mostly by jute mill workers at Titagarh in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas, where assembly elections are scheduled to be held in the sixth phase on Thursday, police said.
Police suspect that crude bombs were being made when the explosion took place.
At Jagaddal, bombs were hurled around 100 metres from the residence of Arjun Singh, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Lok Sabha member from Barrackpore in North 24 Parganas. None was injured. A large police contingent was deployed to diffuse tensions in the area. Similar incidents were also reported from Kanchrapara area in the district.
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Singh later got into an altercation with the police, when he questioned some of his neighbours. “We have been repeatedly telling the police to seize illegal arms and explosives and arrest the criminals against whom non-bailable warrants are pending. Now [ruling] TMC [Trinamool Congress] is reporting to violence ahead of the polls knowing that it is going to lose,” said Singh.
The Election Commission has declared all the assembly seats under the Barrackpore Lok Sabha constituency as sensitive.
TMC accused the BJP of bringing in outsiders for violence in the area. “They know that defeat is imminent. They are going to lose all seats. The local people know how to reject violence and would give a befitting reply to the BJP on May 2 when counting is held,” said Jyotipriyo Mullick, TMC leader.
Political clashes and murders have been reported from the Barrackpore Lok Sabha constituency since the 2019 polls when BJP emerged as the second biggest party in the state.
Manish Shukla, 39, a BJP councillor in Titagarh, was shot dead on October 4.
The power struggle in the area began when Singh defected from TMC to the BJP ahead of the 2019 elections. Singh defeated TMC’s Dinesh Trivedi, who has also defected to the BJP.
Barrackpore, an industrial town near Kolkata, is dotted with jute mills and other industries and has been dominated by Hindi-speaking people from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
