Bengal BJP MLA attacked, car vandalised

Kolkata, Aug 30 (IANS) A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA was on Friday attacked by a group of unidentified miscreants in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district when he was on his way to the state Assembly, police said.

Biswajit Das, the Trinamool Congress turned BJP MLA from North 24 Parganas' Bongaon North Assembly seat, has been admitted to a private hospital here after the miscreants allegedly vandalised his car and beat him with bamboo sticks.

According to BJP sources, a group of men, armed with bamboos and iron rods, forced the leader's car to stop near Gopalnagar in the morning and pelted stones at the vehicle.

They also attacked Das and his aides and hit the BJP leader on the chest with a bamboo stick.

Das, the two time Trinamool MLA from Bongaon, who had switched over to BJP after the 2019 Lok Sabha election results, accused his former party of orchestrating the attack.

"There have been a number of attacks on me since switching over to the BJP. I have received inputs that the local Trinamool Congress leadership is conspiring to kill me. Today's attack was conducted with that motive," he said.

The Trinamool Congress, however, refuted the charges and claimed that Das was attacked by an expelled civic volunteer and his aides, as the leader had taken money from the latter before his recruitment.

"He (Das) is intentionally trying to misguide people and put the blame on Trinamool. We are in no way involved. He was attacked by a local civic volunteer recently expelled from his job," Trinamool's North 24 Parganas district chief Jyotipriyo Mullick said.

Das had taken Rs 3 lakh from the youth for helping out with his recruitment. The youth attacked him as he wanted the money back, he added.