BJP team to visit WB over reports of attacks on party workers

Taking serious note of complaints of attacks on BJP workers in West Bengal following Lok Sabha polls, party President Rajnath Singh has decided to send a five-member team to the state to assess the ground situation there.

BJP Vice Presidents and MPs SS Ahluwalia and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi will, along with national spokesperson and New Delhi MP Meenakshi Lekhi, be part of the delegation.

The two remaining members of the team are newly-elected BJP MP from Asansol, Babul Supriyo, and Siddharth Nath Singh, the BJP's co-in-charge of party affairs in West Bengal.

There have been recent reports of continued attacks on BJP workers in West Bengal, allegedly by Trinamool Congress cadre, after the party's good performance at the hustings.

The West Bengal unit of BJP has claimed that more than 200 of its workers have been injured in post-poll violence. It has told the state government that unless it maintains law and order, it would seek the governor's intervention.

The ruling Trinamool Congress has denied these charges and accused BJP of fomenting violence.

State BJP has also requested Home Minister Singh to send a central team to Sandeshkhali of South 24 Parganas district to look into violent attacks on its workers allegedly by Trinamool Congress workers.

State BJP leaders have alleged that Trinamool goons attacked their workers as they were celebrating Prime Minister Narendra Modi's swearing-in on Monday.

"This kind of terror unleashed on BJP workers by goons of Trinamool Congress across the state is unacceptable and will not be tolerated," Siddharth Nath Singh had said.

BJP has won two Lok seats in West Bengal-- Ahluwalia in Darjeeling and Supriyo in Asansol.

The party also saw a rise in its vote share in the state in the just-concluded Lok Sabha polls as it got 16.8% votes, a little behind 22.7% of CPI(M) and 39.3% of Trinamool Congress.