A bomb blast at the residence of a leader of India’s Trinamool Congress has left three people, including the leader, dead in West Bengal’s East Medinipur , according to Indian broadcaster NDTV.
The home of the dead senior TMC leader, Abhishek Banerjee, was located in Naryabila village of Bhagabanpur, 40 km away from a venue where he was supposed to join a rally on Saturday.
A senior police officer said that the impact of Friday's explosion was so powerful that the mud house with a thatched roof was blown off, adding that further investigation into the incident is ongoing, NDTV reported, citing PTI.
The BJP has alleged that improvised bombs were being crafted at the Trinamool leader's home. BJP national vice president Dilip Ghosh also made a similar accusation, according to NDTV.
Senior leader Sujan Chakraborty of Communist Party of India (Marxist) said he wants to know why Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was silent on such incidents and demanded a statement from her.
Kunal Ghosh, the state general secretary of TMC, said it is “very easy for the opposition to blame the ruling party in West Bengal without any evidence.”
The police have recovered improvised bombs and weapons across the state ahead of the panchayat elections scheduled to be held early next year, according to NDTV.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has ordered the police to ensure peaceful elections, according to Reuters.
Broad-scale violence took place in the last panchayat elections held in the state in 2018. The TMC won, but the BJP made a strong showing, securing second place and surpassing Congress and other major opposition parties.
