Bhangar on boil two days before last phase of LS polls

Kolkata, May 30 (IANS) Bhangar under Jadavpur Lok Sabha constituency in South 24 Parganas has been gripped by tension since Thursday morning following clashes between Trinamool Congress and All India Secular Front (AISF) cadres.

Jadavpur is one of the nine Lok Sabha constituencies in West Bengal which are going for polls on Saturday and is notorious for political violence.

The local AISF leadership has alleged that one of their supporters was beaten up on Thursday morning for not obeying the ruling party’s direction to participate in a roadshow on Wednesday afternoon.

The roadshow was in support of actress-turned-politician and Trinamool Congress candidate from Jadavpur, Saayoni Ghosh.

Agitated AISF activists retaliated by beating up a Trinamool Congress worker in the area, which resulted in escalation of tensions in Bhangar.

However, the local Trinamool Congress leadership rubbished AISF’s allegations and asserted that their organisational strength in the constituency is such that there is no necessity to force any AISF supporter to participate in roadshows or rallies.

Since the 2021 West Bengal Assembly elections, where Naushad Siddique got elected as the lone AISF legislator from Bhangar, there have been frequent reports of clashes between AISF and Trinamool Congress activists there.

The worst cases of poll-related violence were reported from Bhangar before the panchayat polls in the state last year, when a number of activists from both sides were killed in inter-party clashes.