Trinamool Congress leader Joydeb Jana from West Bengal's West Midnapore district was killed late on Friday night. Jana was allegedly beaten by unknown persons while he was returning home in the Sabang region of the district. He succumbed to his injuries later, dna reported. Villagers in the district protested over his murder on Saturday, ANI reported.
Chief national spokesperson for the party Derek O'Brien confirmed Jana's death. He accused local Congress candidate Manas Bhuniya of the murder and demanded that he be booked in the case. Bhuniya lodged a complaint against Jana a few days ago and continued to “conduct inquiries, following up and plotting the murder” till Friday, O'Brien said in a statement issued on Saturday. He added that the Congress, Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Bharatiya Janata Party are “resorting to ‘bloody tactics’ of vendetta” as they know their “campaign is having no impact on the ground”. O'Brien also claimed that eight TMC workers had been murdered in the last few weeks.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has demanded that the Election Commission take appropriate action immediately. “This is a result of Mohammed Salim's revenge remark. An innocent person lost his life,” she said. West Bengal Assembly elections are currently under way, and the second phase is scheduled for Monday.
Trinamool leader from Sabang, Nirmal Ghosh also alleged that Bhuniya and the Congress-CPI(M) alliance was behind the attack. “Congress and Left workers helped him [Bhuniya] attack our party worker. They are attacking our party workers as they know that they are going to lose elections,” he said. Bhuniya, however, denied the allegations and said he was campaigning in West Midnapore's Pingla region when the attack took place.
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