6 BJP workers arrested for attack on party’s Malda candidate

Malda: A political controversy has erupted over the arrest of six youths in connection with the attack on a BJP candidate here on April 18. Not only are they pronounced saffron party supporters, one of them is the nephew of a panchayat pradhan who owes allegiance to the BJP.
Police arrested the six on Thursday night and identified them as Akash Mandal (nephew of pradhan Ukil Mandal), Bittu Choudhury, Arjun Ghosh, Suman Ghosh, Sayan Saha and Bikash Halder.They were produced in court on Friday and remanded in police custody for seven days.
Gopal Saha, the BJP’s Malda candidate, was shot at and injured at a party meeting in Sahapur last Sunday. He was rushed to Malda Medical College, where the bullet was removed. He is said to be stable now. While the BJP had squarely blamed Trinamool Congress for the attack on Saha and staged an agitation, the TMC had called it the fallout of BJP infighting.
It may be recalled that Saha’s nomination from Malda was plagued with controversy. A section of BJP workers had hit the streets and even vandalised the party office, demanding that Saha be replaced. Several party leaders later refused to campaign for Saha. During the April 18 party meeting, a scuffle had broken out between rival BJP factions amid which Saha had been shot at.
Ukil Mandal said the charges against his nephew were fabricated. “He was not on the spot that night,” the pradhan added. District BJP president Gobinda Mandal too reacted to the arrests and said: “We want the real culprits behind bars. Police are trying to protect them and defame our party leaders.”
Trinamool spokesperson Sumala Agarwala said the party’s stand had been vindicated. “We had kept on saying that the attack was the outcome of BJP’s internal feud.”