Opposition leaders find fault with West Bengal police

With just a few days left for the panchayat polls in West Bengal that has witnessed incidents of pre-poll violence, leaders in the Opposition are pointing fingers at the state’s police.

There’s no democracy left in West Bengal, and police have been turned into Trinamool cadres, BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari said on Wednesday.

During his campaign for the rural polls in south Bengal, Adhikari told the security personnel on deputation that they were not invited by the Mamata Banerjee government. “You have come here (to West Bengal) on the directions of the Court,” he said.

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The BJP leader asked the men not to do any favour. “Tomorrow, the election campaign will conclude. After that, it’s the people. It is your responsibility to protect their lives and property. I appeal to you for the same,” he added.

Meanwhile the Calcutta High Court, on Wednesday, rejected Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury’s petition seeking multi-phased elections for panchayats.

Chowdhury, talking to reporters, said the reason for seeking multi-phased elections was because “the police and Trinamool’s supporters are allegedly coming up with new plans every day to terrorise panchayat elections”. He also accused the police of intimidating Congress workers, candidates, and leaders.

Remarks of state’s director general of police Manoj Malaviya, made a day earlier, have also drawn the attention of the political opponents. Malaviya had said that he disagrees with the claim that there’s a lot of violence taking place in the state, and had stated that the situation in the state is under control.

In a series of violent incidents, in the run up to the rural polls, a teenage boy had died in a crude bomb explosion in North 24 Parganas district’s Deganga.