Mamata Banerjee to Participate in TMC Sit-in to Protest Violence Against Party Workers During Polls

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will take part in a sit-in demonstration organised by the Trinamool Congress (TMC) outside the Naihati municipality on Thursday to protest against the violence on party workers after the Lok Sabha poll results.

"Tomorrow, we will organise a sit-in outside the Naihati municipality in protest against our workers being rendered homeless by BJP goons. Our party supremo Mamata Banerjee will also participate in it," a senior TMC leader said on Wednesday.

The decision comes hours after Banerjee said she would not attend the swearing-in ceremony of Narenda Modi as the prime minister, citing "untrue" claims made by the BJP that 54 of its workers were killed in political violence in Bengal.

The TMC supremo had on Tuesday said she would attend the ceremony to be held in New Delhi on Thursday.

Incidentally, the Naihati municipality is located in the Barrackpore area of North 24 Parganas district, which has witnessed violent clashes between TMC and BJP workers since the results of the Lok Sabha polls were announced on May 23.

On Tuesday, a majority of the councillors of the Bhatpara, Halisahar, Naihati and Kanchrapara municipalities in North 24 Parganas joined the BJP, passing over the control of these civic bodies from the TMC to the saffron party.

As many as 29 of the 31 councillors in the Naihati municipality joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday.

Clashes have since been reported from the Bhatpara and Kakinara areas, which fall under the Barrackpore Lok Sabha segment, where the BJP's Arjun Singh defeated Dinesh Trivedi of the TMC in the just-concluded polls.

Violent incidents have been reported from across the state post the general election.

Two people were killed and many injured in the clashes that broke out between the TMC and the BJP since the poll results were declared, officials said.

The BJP won 18 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in Bengal, only four less than the TMC's 22. The remaining two seats were bagged by the Congress, while the Left Front drew a blank.