Kolkata, Mar 18 (IANS): West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress supporters were involved in a violent clash with their arch rival Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) activists in East Midnapore's Nandigram on Thursday.
The BJP alleged that Trinamool-backed assailants carrying lathis launched the attacks on their party workers in which one BJP worker received serious injuries.
The incident of violence took place near Sonachura Chawk in Nandigram when a group of Trinamool supporters allegedly attacked BJP workers with sticks, barely a few meters away from the public meeting site of Dharmendra Pradhan and BJP's Nandigram candidate and a Trinamool turncoat Suvendu Adhikari.
The injured BJP worker was taken to the nearest hospital by Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan. An official complaint was also lodged by the East Midnapore district BJP unit with the local police station.
"Mamata Banerjee must fight elections democratically. One of our Yuva Morcha leaders was attacked here in front of me. A group of Trinamool workers attacked our supporters after Suvendu Adhikari's 'roadside' meeting started in Nandigram," said Pradhan.
The Union Minister said that he would appeal to the Election Commission (EC) to deploy paramilitary forces in the region to restore peace and normalcy during the elections.
"In a democratic set up anybody can contest an election and do the political campaigns freely," Pradhan said, dubbing the incident as "unfortunate".