Bongaon BJP candidate injured in accident

With less than 48 hours to go for polling in West Bengal's Bongaon(SC) Lok Sabha seat in the fifth phase, its BJP candidate Shantunu Thakur Saturday met with an accident at Hanskhali in Nadia district, police said.

Shantanu Thakur, who is the grandson of the Matua community matriarch late Binapani Devi, his driver and two others who were in the vehicle, were injured, the police said.

He suffered an injury in his head and was rushed to the Bongaon sub-divisional hospital.

The accident happened at around 12.15 p m when a police van lost control and hit Thakur's vehicle at the front when he was heading towards Kalyani to attend an election rally on the last day of campaigning, the police said.

BJP Kailash Vijayvargiya was scheduled to speak at the rally.

None was arrested in connection with the accident and the police vehicle was allegedly damaged by BJP workers.

A West Bengal Police officer said "We are trying to find out what actually happened and whose fault it was. We are talking to drivers of both the vehicles. So far nobody has been arrested".

When contacted the BJP candidate's mother Chabirani Thakur alleged that the accident was the result of a "conspiracy" hatched by Trinamool Congress.

"My son's vehicle was standing on the side of the road and suddenly from nowhere this police van came and hit it. We want a thorough investigation into the matter," she told PTI.

Seven parliamentary constituencies of Bangaon, Barrackpore both in North 24 Parganas district, Howrah, Uluberia, Sreerampore, Hooghly, Arambag are scheduled to go to the polls in the fifth phase.

BJP has pitted Shantanu Thakur of the Matua community against sitting TMC MP Mamatabala Thakur, the daughter-in-law of the late Matua matriarch. The family is witnessing a feud over control on the community, which has an estimated 30 lakh population in the state and can influence results in at least five parliamentary constituencies of North and South 24 Parganas districts.