Nitin Gadkari to skip Bengal business meet after Trinamool-BJP clashes
Union minister for road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari has decided to not attend the annual Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS) to be held in Kolkata next week
Kolkata: Union minister for road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari has decided to not attend the annual Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS) to be held in Kolkata next week after Trinamool Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) supporters clashed in the city several times on Friday over a proposed BJP motorbike rally.
The clashes forced the BJP to call off the rally which was to cover the length of West Bengal from Contai in the south to Coochbehar in the north.
BJP state president Dilip Ghosh said Gadkari will not attend the summit.
Partha Chatterjee, a West Bengal minister, denied that Trinamool supporters had anything to do with the violence. It was staged by the BJP to get media attention, he said. The BJP said its supporters were attacked several times on Friday, and some were seriously injured.
The state police had earlier declined to give permission to the youth wing of the BJP for the rally, citing deployment of forces for the ongoing Gangasagar Mela. The BJP moved the Calcutta high court against the police’s stand. The court had pressured the police to hold the motorbike rally.
Ghosh alleged that participants were attacked in Kolkata. Even court-appointed officers who were to oversee the rally were attacked by a mob, according to reports.
Mukul Roy, who recently defected from the Trinamool Congress to the BJP, said the ruling party in West Bengal was thwarting all forms of opposition.
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