Stones were hurled and black flags were waved at the convoy of Bharatiya Janata Party’s West Bengal President Dilip Ghosh in Jaigaon area of Alipurduar district on Thursday, PTI reported. Activists of Bimal Gurung’s Gorkha Janmukti Morcha were seen raising slogans against Ghosh, asking him to leave.

Ghosh said that the attack took place when they were on their way to attend a party programme. He blamed the ruling Trinamool Congress for the attack, asserting that the incident showed the collapse of law and order in the state.

“The TMC and their friends are getting desperate as they can sense defeat in the upcoming Assembly polls,” Ghosh said. “However such tactics won’t work. People are with us.”

He also tweeted a video of the protests against him and said: “Desperate TMC and their desperate goons’ violent attacks on me won’t be able to stop the BJP wave in Paschim Banga.”

The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has recently joined hands with the Trinamool Congress ahead of elections in the state next year.

Following the attack, workers of the saffron party and its youth wing Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha held demonstrations at various places.

The BJP has constantly been accusing the Trinamool Congress for attack on its workers. On Wednesday, it claimed that the ruling party had murdered a BJP worker in the Purba Medinipur district.

‘Return, if facing problems in TMC,’ says Congress

Meanwhile, the Congress also mounted its attack on Trinamool Congress, as the party’s state President Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Thursday asked those “facing problems within Trinamool Congress” to return to Congress.

“Trinamool has no political identity. If anyone is facing problem within Trinamool, the doors of Congress are open for him,” Chowdhury, who is also the Congress Parliamentary Party leader in Lok Sabha, tweeted in Bengali without naming anyone.

The Congress and the Left parties are in talks for forging an alliance in the state ahead of next year’s elections.