Kolkata: The Trinamool Congress cautioned those party activists who are fighting the upcoming West Bengal panchayat polls as independents after being denied tickets, asserting that they would not be taken back.
The party's warning comes after Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee held a meeting with senior leaders at her residence in the Bhabanipur area of south Kolkata. "We would request party activists, who are fighting as independents, to withdraw their candidature and support the party's official candidates. It is a big fight. The entire party should stand united," TMC MP and senior leader Kalyan Banerjee said on Saturday.
He said those who are fighting as independents are "working against the interest of the party" and they would never be "readmitted into the TMC". "There are a few people who are fighting as independents. They are traitors and have no place in the party," he said.
Violence continued to mar the filing of nominations with bloody clashes erupting all over the state. So far, poll-related violence claimed six loves. Trinamool Congress candidate Mustafa Sheikh was beaten to death in the state's Malda district, with the party pointing accusing fingers at the Congress. Sheikh was on his way home in the afternoon when he was attacked by unidentified miscreants in the Sujapur area and beat him up, police said. He was later to a hospital where he was declared dead.
"We are looking into the case. The body was sent for post-mortem examination," a police official said. According to state minister Sabina Yeasmin, former TMC activists who had joined the Congress after being denied tickets, were behind the attack on Sheikh."Out of vengeance, they have killed our official candidate. We have asked the police to take action," she told reporters in Malda. The TMC activists, demanding the arrest of the culprits, organised a sit-in in the area. The district Congress leadership denied the allegations. "The allegation against us is baseless. The killing is due to infighting within the TMC. It has nothing to do with us," a Congress leader said. Malda, a minority-dominated district, is considered a stronghold of the Congress. Widespread violence over the filing of nominations for the July 8 three-tier panchayat polls has left at least six people dead and several injured in various parts of the state. (PTI)
