West Bengal Transport Minister Firhad Hakim has been booked for allegedly using abusive language against Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Deb, reported Millennium Post on Tuesday.

The complaint alleged that Hakim had used abusive language against Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Deb during a rally on November 20 in Sonamura town. Hakim was also accused of threatening BJP supporters by saying that if one Trinamool Congress worker is assaulted in Tripura, five members of the saffron party will be beaten up in West Bengal within five minutes.

Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sohel Rana lodged the complaint, on the basis of which a first information report was filed against Hakim at Sonamura police station in Tripura on Monday evening. Hakim has been boked under Section 506 of the Indian Penal Code that deals with criminal intimidation, according to the Hindustan Times.

But Trinamool Congress leader Kunal Ghosh claimed that the BJP had been filing false cases against the party’s workers to scare them ahead of the civic body elections, scheduled on Thursday.

Ghosh alleged that the podium from where Hakim delivered his speech on November 20 was ransacked. The politician added that a complaint was lodged with the police, but no one has been arrested yet.

Tension between Trinamool and BJP supporters have escalated in Tripura in the run up to the civic body elections.

On Sunday, Trinamool Congress leader Sushmita Dev had alleged that BJP supporters attacked her and other members of the party outside a police station in Tripura.

In a video posted by Dev, a couple of injured men could be seen saying that they had been beaten up. Policemen armed with batons and rifles could be seen rushing towards a group of people engaged in a ruckus.

On the same day, Trinamool Congress leader Saayoni Ghosh was arrested on charges of attempt to murder, promoting enmity between groups and criminal intimidation. The police alleged that Ghosh had tried to mow down Bharatiya Janata Party workers at Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Deb’s rally in Agartala.

Saayoni Ghosh was granted bail a day later.

Last week, a clash had erupted between supporters of the two parties in Khowai district, in which 19 people, including two policemen, were injured.

The Trinamool Congress has moved a petition before the Supreme Court on security concerns surrounding Tripura local body elections. The Supreme Court has said it will hear the matter on Tuesday.