KOLKATA: The death of a Trinamool Congress worker and injury to the brother of a ruling party panchayat chief in a bomb blast at Margram in Birbhum district led to a blame game among political parties on Sunday.
While immediate family members of the deceased Newton Sheikh alleged that Congress supporters were responsible for the attack, West Bengal Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said the party has little presence at Margram to be able to involve in any kind of physical attack.
While Newton Sheikh died in the bomb attack, injured Laltu Sheikh was brought to state-run SSKM hospital in Kolkata for treatment.
Wondering whether Maoists could be involved in the attack as Birbhum district shares borders with Jharkhand, West Bengal Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim said police should investigate all aspects to find out how and why the attack was perpetrated.
"I think there is a big conspiracy and the source of the materials to make these bombs must be investigated," he told reporters after visiting injured Laltu, the brother of a TMC panchayat chief at Margram.
He denied there could be any intra-TMC rivalry, as is being alleged by the opposition BJP and Congress, that could have led to Saturday's incident.
Stating that the Congress has no organisational strength in Margram, Chowdhury said that despite knowing this, if anyone wants to give publicity to the party, then he has no issue with that. "Everyone knows that the attackers and victims both belong to the TMC," Chowdhury said.