KOLKATA: Stones were hurled and black flags shown at BJP state president Dilip Ghosh's convoy in Jaigaon area of Bengal's Alipurduar district on Thursday, where he had gone to attend party programmes, police said.
Several Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) activists were seen raising slogans against Ghosh, asking him to leave. Ghosh's vehicle was partially damaged in the attack, sources in the BJP said.
A team of police officers, however, brought the situation under control, after forcing the protesters and saffron camp supporters to disperse.
Ghosh later told reporters, "The TMC and their friends are getting desperate as they can sense defeat in the upcoming assembly polls. However such tactics won't work. People are with us".
He also claimed that the incident goes on to show that law and order has completely collapsed in Bengal After a Chai Pe Charcha session, we were on our way to another programme, when our convoy was pelted with stones. Black flags were shown.
"Such attacks by the ruling party and its allies prove that law and order has collapsed in the state. In a democracy such things don't happen," he said.
District TMC chief Sourav Chakraborty, however, said that Ghosh was trying to foment trouble in north Bengal, and none of his party activists was involved in the incident.
The GJM, led by Bimal Gurung, recently joined hands with the TMC, while the Binay Tamang faction of the Gorkha outfit has always been an ally of the ruling party.