Trinamul stalls Youth Congress meet in Khejuri

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In an unusual development which may affect the Congress-Trinamul Congress alliance in the state, Youth Congress workers were attacked and prevented from holding a rally at Khejuri near Nandigram in East Midnapore not by the workers of the rival CP(M) but allegedly by those of the Trinamul Congress.

Youth Congress general secretary Usha Naidu with a band of Rahul Gandhi’s Aam Admi Ka Sipahi was heading towards Khejuri to hold a rally.
“The Trinamul Congress supporters blocked our path near Meyapara and claimed that this entire area was theirs and they would not allow a Congress meeting there. They had petrol and rods in their hands and they threatened us. They took away our Seva Dal colleague Dipak Maity. The entire drama unfolded before the eyes of the police which remained silent spectators,” Ms Naidu said.
The Trinamul Congress supporters smashed the glass pane of a car and allegedly also manhandled some Youth Congress workers.
A badly shaken Ms Naidu later lodged a complaint at the Heria police outpost. She also informed state Congress president Manas Bhunia who was in Delhi. Mr Bhunia called up SP Ashok Biswas and sought his help.
“I was surprised when he told me that the Khejuri OC has informed him that no untoward incident had taken place,” Mr Bhunia said. Later Mr Bhunia spoke to state home secretary Samar Ghosh and DG Bhupinder Singh and sought their intervention. He also called up Trinamul Youth Congress president and MP Subhendu Adhikari. “He assured me that the situation was normal,” he said.
A visibly angry Mr Bhunia said that such undemocratic attacks were rampant when CPI(M)’s writ ran large in Khejuri. “We did not expect this from Trinamul Congress friends,” he added.
State Youth Congress president Amitabha Chakraborty said that Ms Naidu was in-charge of the membership drive for the Youth Congress in East and West Midnapore and was touring the district for this purpose.
“The Trinamul Congress workers obviously felt insecure at Congress’ growing popularity and resorted to this,” he added.
Rejecting the Congress charge, Union minister of state for rural development and local heavyweight Trinamul Congress leader Sisir Adhikari said that some CPI(M) supporters might have kicked up the whole ruckus to malign his party and weaken the Opposition unity. “Such small incidents cannot affect our alliance with the Congress,” he added.
Even Leader of Opposition Partha Chatterjee called upon workers of both parties to ensure that the alliance remained unaffected.