TMC Govt. in West Bengal conspiring against me: Chowdhury

Minister of State for Railways Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has claimed that the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) Government is conspiring against him and the Congress Party.

Interacting with media at the Murshidabad District headquarters, Chowdhury said the West Bengal Government is trying to frame him for the June 2011 murder of TMC leader Kamal Sheikh and for attacking the District Magistrate's bungalow in Murshidabad with the help of 14 Congress workers in 2012.

Chowdhury had applied for anticipatory bail in the second case in September this year.

In the Kamal Sheikh murder case, a warrant was issued by a court in Behrampore and follows a charge sheet filed by the police in the murder case on September 26.

Sheikh was killed by some miscreants in Murshidabad's Gorabazar area in 2011.

Chowdhury's lawyer Pijush Ghosh said his client's name was in the charge sheet and the court accepted police's prayer and issued a warrant.

"It's a cognizable offense and he can be arrested," he said.

Trinamool Congress leader and Panchayat Minister Subrata Mukherjee said the warrant is not a political matter.

He was quoted by media, as saying earlier: "The court has issued some order and accordingly, the law will take its course. We won't comment on what he (Chowdhury) is alleging. He may allege anything but this is a court's order and not our party order. How can the government defy court's order?"

But the Congress has called the move to arrest Chowdhury "a vendetta" since Murshidabad was his stronghold which Trinamool was trying to influence.

"It is a plan of the TMC to weaken the Congress, as within a month, there will municipality elections in the district. The Congress, however, is prepared for every challenge," Chowdhury said.