TMC delegation to meet kin of Sonbhadra clash victims Saturday

A team of Trinamool Congress MPs will visit on Saturday the families of the Sonbhadra clash victims in Uttar Pradesh, party sources said here Friday.

The TMC's announcement came on a day Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was detained and stopped from going to Sonbhadra where 10 tribals were gunned down this week during a clash over a land dispute.

The decision assumes significance due to the intensified political bickering and violence between the TMC and the BJP since the Lok Sabha elections in which the saffron party made significant inroads in West Bengal.

UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee had attacked each other during the election campaign in the eastern state.

The BJP has emerged as the main opponent of the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal ever since the saffron party won 18 of the 42 seats in the state in this Lok Sabha polls up from two seats it had won in 2014.

The delegation, comprising Derek O'Brien, Sunil Mondal, Abir Ranjan Biswas and Uma Saren, will reach Varanasi airport at 9.15 am Saturday and then take a three-hour drive to Ubbha village in Sonbhadra district, TMC sources said.

Ten people were killed and 28 injured in the clash between supporters of village head Yagya Dutt and Gond tribals over a piece of land in Sonbhadra's Ghorawal area on Wednesday. Dutt's supporters allegedly opened fire on the tribals.

Twenty-nine people, including Dutt and his brother, were arrested. Prohibitory orders are in force in Ghorawal area in Sonbhadra district and a thorough checking of vehicles is on to monitor the movement of people.