A group of BJP workers on Tuesday locked up Union Minister Subhas Sarkar in their party office in West Bengal’s Bankura. The party workers alleged he was being “dictatorial” in running the district unit.
Sarkar, the MoS for Education and MP of Bankura, was holding a meeting around 1 pm when the BJP workers entered the district party office, shouted slogans and locked him up. A video of the incident was tweeted by the Trinamool Congress (TMC), which mocked the BJP for their “infighting”.
Sarkar was locked up for about half an hour before being released by the party workers.
Mohit Sharma, one of the protesters, termed Sarkar as “incompetent” and claimed he was not giving importance to party workers who were working hard. He alleged that the Union Minister had appointed people close to him as members of the district committee.
“Some of us have been show-caused. We are protesting to save the party. This time, the BJP did not get any seats in Bankura Municipality because of his incompetence. The BJP won two wards in the previous election. They could not field candidates in many seats in panchayat. It is a shame,” he alleged.
Another group of BJP workers reached the party office and a scuffle broke out between the two sides amid the chaos.
A police team rushed to the party office and rescued Sarkar, an officer said.
West Bengal BJP spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya termed the incident as unfortunate and stated that action would be taken against the protesting party workers.
“Such incidents are unacceptable in a disciplined party like the BJP. If there are any grievances, there is a proper forum to raise those. We will look into the incident, and action will be taken against those involved,” he said.
He also said Sarkar had no role in the district unit and said the allegations against him were due to “misunderstandings”.
(with inputs from PTI)