A day after BJP president J P Nadda's convoy was attacked, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Friday summoned West Bengal’s chief secretary and police chief on December 14 for an explanation on the law and order situation in the state.
This came following a report submitted by West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankar on the incident that took place in Kolkata's Diamond Harbour, the Lok Sabha constituency of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's nephew Abhishek Banerjee, on Thursday. Nadda's convoy was attacked with stones and sticks and Dhankar had alleged that violators had the protection of the state government.
Sources said Bengal Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay and Director General of Police Virendra have been summoned on next Monday and are likely to be asked about the law and order in the state as well as steps being taken to prevent political violence.
Though the Centre has received a report from the Governor, the MHA is yet to receive one form the Mamata Banerjee-led government despite asking details of the "security lapses" that led to the attack on the visiting BJP president.
The incident had further intensified the war of words between the Trinamool Congress and BJP ahead of the Assembly elections in April-May next year when the saffron party hopes to unseat the Banerjee-led party.
Banerjee had called the incident a "drama" created by the BJP while the Governor targeted the Trinamool Congress saying the law and order situation is deteriorating in the state. He also said the Chief Minister should desist from calling the BJP a party of outsiders.
On Thursday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah tweeted, "Bengal has descended into an era of tyranny, anarchy and darkness under the Trinamool rule... The manner in which political violence has been institutionalised and brought to the extreme in West Bengal under TMC rule is sad and worrying".
Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla had also spoken to the West Bengal chief secretary on Thursday after Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh shot off a letter to Shah complaining about the incident.
Ghosh had alleged, "during his (Nadda's) different engagements in Kolkata, it was observed that there were serious lapses on security arrangements, purportedly due to negligence and/or casual approach of the state police department."