Key Points

The unfortunate incident surfaced just a day after the vehicle of BJP Lok Sabha member, Khagen Murmu, and the party's Chief Whip Shankar Ghosh, was attacked on Monday afternoon at Bamundanga in Alipurduar-adjacent Jalpaiguri district while they were on their way to Nagrakata in the same district with relief material for the flood-affected people there.

While Khagen Murmu was severely injured in that attack, again allegedly by Trinamool Congress supporters, Ghosh sustained minor injuries.

Both Murmu and Ghosh are currently under treatment at a hospital in Siliguri in the Darjeeling district.

Later, while speaking to the media persons, Oraon alleged that he and his aides were stopped from distributing relief materials among the flood-affected people there by a group of Trinamool Congress activists.

According to BJP leader Oraon, two of the vehicles in which he and his aides came were vandalised.

He also said that even his security personnel were attacked and attempts were made to snatch away their forearms.

"So many of our (BJP) supporters, including three women, were injured in the attack. They sustained head injuries after being hit by stones pelted by the ruling party's goons. They are under treatment at a local hospital now," Oraon added.

However, Trinamool Congress's Alipurduar District President Prakash Chik Baraik claimed that the event was a spontaneous protest by the local people aggrieved by the long absence of Oraon in the area.

"The local BJP legislator is missing from the area throughout the year. So he came for publicity keeping in mind the Assembly elections next year. Hence, he faced spontaneous protests from the local people," Baraik said.

'It has become a practice among the leaders of the ruling party that they try to justify any attack on our (BJP's) elected representatives by their supporters as spontaneous public protests. They did the same thing in case of the attack on Khagen Murmu and Shankar Ghosh," Oraon said.

- IANS