In West Bengal, two councilors were shot dead by miscreants. One of them is from the ruling Trinamool Congress Party (TMC) and one councilor from the Congress. Anupam Dutta, TMC councilor of Panihati Municipality in North 24 Parganas district was shot dead by unidentified miscreants in Panihati on Sunday evening. At the same time, four-time Congress councilor Tapan Kandu was shot by unidentified miscreants in Jhalda Municipality of Purulia district. Both had won the civic polls on February 28.
TMC accuses BJP leader in Anupam’s murder case- In Anupam’s case, TMC has accused local BJP leader and MP Arjun Singh of being behind the murder. TMC leader Partha Bhowmik said, “BJP especially its MP Arjun Singh is behind the murder. Today we have lost one of our leaders. I urge the police to investigate the murder and arrest the culprits.”
BJP denied the allegations- The BJP has denied the allegations and blamed the TMC’s “internal strife” for Anupam’s murder. BJP spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said, “TMC won Panihati Municipality. There is no BJP presence there. The incident is the result of their internal battle. They are trying to malign our image by making such baseless allegations. Barrackpore Police Commissioner Manoj Verma said, “We are probing the matter. We have got some evidence. We are probing them.”
Charges against TMC in Anupam Dutta murder case Anupam Dutta was rushed to a hospital in the neighboring state of Jharkhand’s Ranchi city after being shot, where he died. The Congress accused the ruling TMC of this and called a 12-hour bandh in the district. According to police, the councilor was shot at by three motorcycle-borne youths when he had gone for a walk near his residence in his ward number two in the evening.
Congress alleges- State Congress president Adhir Chowdhury said, “Democracy is not left in West Bengal. In Jhalda, our elected representative Tapan Kandu was shot dead by TMC goons to prevent Congress from forming a board. They got him out of the way to take advantage of the hung board.”
TMC denied the allegations- TMC has denied the allegations of Congress. Party leader Tapan Roy said, “We too lost a corporator today. Congress is blaming us for the death of its councillor, but our workers are not behind this incident. The police will definitely find out the real culprits.”
Suvendu Adhikari tweeted- Meanwhile, BJP leader and Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Suvendu Adhikari tweeted, “Law and order has collapsed in West Bengal. If the elected representatives are not secure, how will the general public feel secure?” Hinting at the power struggle in Jhalda, he said TMC and Congress won five wards each in the 12-ward municipality.