Clashes broke out between Trinamool Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party supporters in West Bengal's Cooch Behar district after a public meeting addressed by Union Minister of State for Home Nisith Paramanik got over and a rally led by state minister Udayan Guha was about to begin nearby.
The incident happened in the Dinhata Bazar area around 8.30 pm on Tuesday when Pramanik, the local BJP MP, was on his way out after attending the meeting. The TMC was also scheduled to hold a meeting a few metres away from the spot.
Pramanik claimed that when his convoy was leaving the area, stones were hurled from the venue of the TMC's rally.
"I was leaving the area after the programme was over, and all of a sudden TMC supporters started hurling stones at us. So I had to get down to protest against this undemocratic and violent behaviour of the TMC workers," he told a Bengali news channel.
Pramanik alleged that Guha, the North Bengal Development Minister, took the lead in beating up BJP activists and instructing the police to arrest them.
Guha rejected the allegations as "baseless" and claimed that BJP supporters threw stones at the TMC's rally venue.
"People from Nisith Pramanik's convoy hurled stones at us and were also shooting arrows targeting us. Some of our workers were injured. The Union minister himself was provoking his supporters to attack us," Guha claimed.
He alleged that the BJP was trying to stop the TMC from campaigning in the area.
Some police personnel were also injured when they intervened to stop the two sides, who exchanged blows.
In a statement, the Raj Bhavan said that Governor C V Ananda Bose has sought a report from the state police chief on the 'veracity of the report' on the 'altercation and confrontation' between Pramanik and Guha.
'The Governor has also sent a list of habitual offenders received through the 'lok sabha' portal for appropriate preventive action to restrain them from blocking free and fair elections,' it said.
