Local BJP leader Manish Shukla shot dead in West Bengal
A local BJP leader was shot dead by two bike-borne assailants in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district on Sunday. Following the incident, Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar summoned West Bengal Additional Chief Secretary (Home) and the Director General of Police (DGP) in the wake of "worsening law and order situation leading to the dastardly killing."
Manish Shukla, a local councillor, was shot at by the duo on BT Road in the evening. He was immediately rushed to a private hospital where he was declared brought dead.
Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) blamed the Trinamool Congress for the incident, however the Mamata-led TMC rejected the accusations. "It is shameful that the TMC has now started politics of annihilation of political opponents. We don't have any faith in local police as this happened in front of the police station. We want a CBI inquiry," BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya said.
BJP MP Arjun Singh also held the TMC responsible for Shukla's "killing" and claimed that shots were fired at him from a carbine.
Shukla, who switched over to the saffron party last year, was considered to be close to Singh.
Senior TMC leader Nirmal Ghosh said the incident was a result of infighting within the BJP and allegations against his party were baseless.
The BJP has called a 12-hour bandh in Barrackpore area on Monday in protest against the incident.
