Two members of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were shot dead by unidentified assailants on Monday late evening in Bharuch, south Gujarat.
According to reports coming in, Shirish Bengali, former Bharuch district president of the BJP was shot dead on Monday evening by two unidentified attackers who had come on a motorcycle. Bengali, who published a local weekly, was in his office with Pragnesh Mistry, another BJP worker and Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) Bharuch general secretary, when the attacker shot him in his head.
Bengali, a senior functionary of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad in Bharuch district, had moved on to serve the BJP and served as party district general secretary in the past. He has also been a director with the Gujarat government-owned fertilizer company Gujarat Narmada Fertilizer Corporation.
Apparently there has been an attempt on Bengali’s life earlier in 1980s but that was believed to be a personal matter.
Mistry too was injured in the shooting incident. He was immediately moved for treatment in a critical condition but later succumbed to the injury. Mistry was also a senate member of Veer Narmad South Gujarat University in South Gujarat.
“Though Bengali is a well-respected old-timer and has played a key role in establishing the RSS and the BJP in the district, the political reason for attack at this stage would be surprising. Both were not very active politically currently and were not involved in any controversy, politically or otherwise,” a local political worker said on condition of anonymity.
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