Tamluk (WB): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew and apparent political successor, party MP Abhishek Banerjee, was on Sunday slapped by a party worker at a rally in East Midnapore district.
The incident led to chaos as party workers beat up the assailant black and blue and later went on a rampage, targeting policemen and media personnel present at the rally.
Taking security personnel and party workers unawares, the youth mounted the dais and gave the impression that he was clicking photos on his mobile phone; then, he suddenly lunged at Banerjee. Before anyone could react, the youth had slapped Mamata’s nephew. However, the youth’s second attempt to hit him did not succeed.
The TMC workers and leaders, present on the dais, caught hold of the youth, pinned him to the ground and started beating him up. Later, he was admitted at a local health centre.
The assailant is yet to be identified and Trinamool MP Derek O’Brien tried to suggest that an outsider may be behind the incident.
The BJP condemned the incident and observed that the internal power struggle in the Trinamool had come out in the open. “Whether it is an insider or an outsider, the BJP is of the opinion that in politics, there is no room for violence. Therefore, we condemn it,” BJP state president Siddharth Nath Singh said. He added that a number of TMC leaders wanted to quit because they are unhappy because over the Saradha scam and the Burdwan blast.
Hitting out at Trinamool, the Congress said the slap was a crude manifestation of the internal conflict in the party. Also the TMC did not seem to have any control over goons within. ‘‘No outsider has the guts to step on the podium and slap the ‘Yuvraj’ of the TMC,’’ a Congress leader said.
