BJP goes to EC after 'attack' on Amit Shah's rally, Mamata calls him goon

Violence during Shah's road show proved that Trinamool "goons" have hijacked the state, says BJP.

BJP leaders on Tuesday asked the Election Commission to stop West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee from campaigning after BJP president Amit Shah's rally was attacked with stones in Kolkata but their political rival said she was not to blame.

"She holds a constitutional post but has been using unconstitutional comments, asking her party workers to take revenge and indulge in violence. She is complicit," said BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi after visiting the Election Commission's office in Delhi. 

Naqvi alleged Banerjee had "provoked" her Trinamool Congress workers to attack BJP members.

Violence during Shah's road show proved that Trinamool "goons" have hijacked the state, said Naqvi, who visited the EC along with defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman and other BJP leaders.

BJP and Trinamool supporters Tuesday fought with each other in parts of Kolkata, forcing Shah to cut short his rally and escorted to safety by the police. "There was an attempt by TMC (Trinamool) hooligans to attack me. Mamata Banerjee (West Bengal chief minister) tried to provoke violence. But I am safe," Shah told a Hindi TV news channel.

The BJP said Trinamool supporters in a hostel of Vidyasagar College threw stones at Shah's rally, but Chief Minister Banerjee rejected the party's allegations.

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"What does Amit Shah think of himself? Is he above everything? Is he God that no one can protest against him?" Banerjee told reporters after visiting the college in north Kolkata.

"They are so uncultured that they have broken the bust of Vidyasagar. They are all outsiders. They BJP had brought them to be used on the day of polls," she said, referring to the state's iconic reformer and educator.

"If you lay your hands on Vidyasagar, what will I call you other than a goonda. I hate your ideology, I hate your ways," she told a rally in Koklkata, adding her party will take out a rally on Wednesday to protest against the BJP.