Several Bharatiya Janata Party workers were arrested after clashing with the police at different places in West Bengal on Sunday, PTI reported. The clashes took place after the saffron party was allegedly prevented from holding its “Vijay Sankalp” motorcycle rally in the run-up to the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

The rally is part of the BJP’s nationwide pre-poll exercise to establish contact with people.

Clashes between BJP workers and police personnel occurred at Durgapur and Asansol in West Burdwan district, in Midnapore town and Goaltore in West Midnapore, and in Balurghat in South Dinajpur district. Several injuries were reported from Asansol and Goaltore after the police resorted to cane-charge to disperse the BJP workers, the report said.

An unidentified official of the Kolkata Police said 135 persons were arrested and 59 motorcycles seized from different places of the city as a preventive measure.

According to the police, the BJP was denied permission from holding the events due to a ban on public rallies during the ongoing school board examinations.

Trinamool afraid of losing elections, claims BJP

BJP state chief Dilip Ghosh claimed the ruling Trinamool Congress was afraid of losing political ground in West Bengal and was using the police and administration to prevent his party workers from holding peaceful rallies. Ghosh claimed that Trinamool leaders were mistaken to think they could intimidate his party workers.

BJP Mahila Morcha President Locket Chatterjee claimed that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was scared of losing the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, India Today reported. Her administration had denied the saffron party permission to hold the bike rallies, Chatterjee alleged.

West Bengal BJP General Secretary Sayantan Basu, who led the protests in Kolkata, was detained along with several other workers. Basu claimed that BJP workers were celebrating Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman’s return to India and that the police stopped them unnecessarily. “Our boys did not break any traffic rules,” he said. “They were wearing helmets.”