Tajinder Bagga hits back at Derek O'Brien, says nobody takes TMC leader seriously

BJP spokesperson Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga on Wednesday hit back at the allegations made by TMC spokesperson Derek O'Brien, claiming that nobody takes the latter seriously.

Speaking to ANI, Bagga said he would leave politics if the allegations made by TMC were proved.

"Nobody takes Derek O'Brien seriously. I challenge him; if he can prove that I was within 500 metres of the spot where violence broke out, I will leave politics. However, he should leave politics if he fails to prove the charge," Bagga said.

Earlier in the day, O'Brien had accused BJP president Amit Shah of bringing in "outsiders" for the clashes during the latter's roadshow in the city on Tuesday.

"Anybody can come and do a procession, but what were the outsiders... Who is this fellow Tajinder Bagga? Who is he? He was arrested, is he not the same guy who slapped somebody in Delhi? You have taken in your outsider goons," he had told reporters.

Bagga had tweeted that the door of his hotel room was broken and he was arrested at around 2 am on Wednesday. He went on to say that he was released a few hours after being arrested by Kolkata Police due to lack of evidence.

On Tuesday, clashes broke out after miscreants threw sticks at Shah's convoy.

The incident took place on College Street here when TMC supporters allegedly began sloganeering. Furious BJP supporters responded by pelting stones and sticks at the Calcutta University gates, resulting in chaos and mayhem.

During the clashes, a bust of the 19th-century social reformer, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, was vandalised by BJP workers at Vidyasagar College.

While BJP accused the Mamata Banerjee government of "murdering democracy", the TMC claimed that the saffron party instigated the violence.

The BJP has urged the Election Commission to bar Banerjee from campaigning for the last and final phase of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, alleging a breakdown of constitutional machinery in the state.

Since the Lok Sabha polls began on April 10, BJP and TMC have been at loggerheads in West Bengal.

Voting for nine seats in the state will be held in the seventh and final phase of the general elections on May 19. Counting of votes will take place on May 23.