Unidentified miscreants attacked a rally led by BJP leader Shuvendu Adhikari – who had recently defected from the Trinamool Congress (TMC) – in the Beleghata area of North Kolkata.
A former close aide of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Shuvendu Adhikari had joined the BJP after leaving the TMC at a rally of Union Home Minister Amit Shah in the Midnapore district in December.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has accused the state’s ruling TMC of being behind the incident ahead of the assembly elections in West Bengal.
In another incident, a crude bomb was hurled at West Bengal minister Zakir Hussain by unknown assailants near Nimita railway station in Murshidabad district on Wednesday night, in which he was seriously injured. Two other persons, who were with the Trinamool Congress MLA from Jangipur, were also injured in the incident.
With the assembly elections in West Bengal approaching, several incidents of political violence have come to light in the state in the last few months, for which the BJP and the ruling TMC have blamed each other.
Last month, BJP workers were allegedly pelted by TMC workers during a party rally in Kolkata on Monday. The rally was attended by Union Minister Debashree Chaudhary, state BJP chief Dilip Ghosh and Shuvendu Adhikari.
In December last year, BJP chief JP Nadda’s convoy was allegedly attacked by TMC activists near Kolkata when he was visiting Diamond Harbor in the South 24 Parganas district to address a meeting of party workers.
Elections to the 294-member state assembly are scheduled in April-May this year.