BJP National General Secretary Vijayvargiya's car damaged during BJYM rally; BJP blames TMC

The windscreen of the car of BJP national general secretary and the party's Bengal minder Kailash Vijayvargiya was damaged during a march here by the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) which turned violent.

While Vijayvargiya alleged that ruling Trinamool Congress activists vandalized his car, the TMC claimed that the vehicle might have been damaged during the chaos after BJP workers tried to break through the police cordon.

Stating that cars at the site might have been damaged when protestors indulged in heavy brick batting, the police said that the matter would be investigated.

Several people were injured as BJYM activists fought pitched battles with the police in the major north Bengal town as they were stopped from moving past barricades at two points near branch secretariat 'Uttarkanya' during the rally called to protest the TMC's "misrule".

Vijayvargiya, who was not harmed in the incident, told reporters that when he was going to a local hospital to meet injured party workers, his vehicle was damaged by lathi-wielding TMC miscreants who along with policemen charged towards BJP workers.

As we were going towards the Tinbatti crossing, Kailashji's own security personnel took him aside to safety.

At that time, several TMC miscreants accompanied by policemen hit the windscreen of the parked cars, including that of Kailashji, with bricks and sticks and fled, state BJYM vice- president Shankudeb Panda told PTI.

The BJP also alleged that a party worker was beaten to death by the police during a baton charge.

However, the police claimed there was no lathi-charge and the cause of death of the protester was being ascertained.

Panda said that the BJYM, the youth wing of the BJP, will take out protest rallies all over the state on Tuesday in protest against the death of the party member and "the brutal attack by the police.

TMC sources claimed that BJP workers turned violent and broke through the police cordon, and the cars parked there might have been damaged during the ensuing chaos.

An officer of the Siliguri Police Commissionerate said that minimum force was used despite provocations to quell the protest as the mob tried to proceed towards the branch secretariat where Section 144 CrPC is in force.

He denied the allegation that policemen were accompanied by TMC workers.

Meanwhile, BJYM activists blocked a key road near the BJPs state headquarters in Kolkata and burnt an effigy of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in protest against the alleged attack on party activists by the police and death of a worker during the march in Siliguri.

BJYM activists also put up road blockades in Nadia, Purba Medinipur, and Bardhaman districts.

A BJP delegation called on Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar and demanded a probe into the death of the party worker by a high court judge, senior leader Rahul Sinha said.

Sinha, who met Dhankhar along with party MP Locket Chatterjee and others, claimed the governor told them that he was collecting information on his own about the incident.

"We have urged the governor to write to the chief minister seeking details about the incident," Sinha said.

(IMAGE CREDITS:PTI)