CPM-Trinamool hold joint dharna in Delhi, but clash in Bengal

KOLKATA: On a day when the Trinamool Congress and CPI(M) joined hands with the Congress to hold a protest demonstration in Delhi over the Vyapam scam, activists of Bengal’s ruling Trinamool allegedly attacked a Left Front team led by opposition leader Surjya Kanta Mishra at Howrah.

The opposition said its members had gone to Udaynarayanpur in the district on Thursday to visit a flood-hit area.

“Trinamool activists stopped their vehicles and attacked and ransacked those,” Left Front chairman Biman Bose said in a statement. “This incident took place in presence of the police which remained a mute spectator to the incident.”

Bose said the Left Front workers held protest demonstrations spontaneously and the police arrested some of them. “But, the police refrained from taking action against the ruling party workers,” he alleged.

“Earlier, the chief minister had issued a statement hinting that it was unnecessary for anyone except the government to carry out relief operation. We feel that Thursday's attack on the Left Front delegation was a sequel to the chief minister's message,” he said.

While the relation between the two Trinamool and CPI(M) remain tense in the state, they have held joint movements along with the Congress in Delhi opposing suspension of 25 Congress MPs from the Lok Sabha and over issues such as Vyapam.