New Delhi: Union Minister Subhas Sarkar was locked up for hours in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) office in West Bengal's Bankura by his own partymen on Tuesday. The party members alleged that he was being "dictatorial" in running the district unit, reported news agency PTI.
As per the agency, Sarkar, the MoS for Education and MP of Bankura, was chairing a meeting around 1 pm when a group of BJP workers shouting slogans marched into the party's district office and locked him up.
The video of the incident was shared by the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter. "With each passing day, @BJP4Bengal is crumbling as infighting is reaching its peak!" the party tweeted.
According to one of the protestors, Mohit Sharma, Sarkar was making people close to him members of the district committee rather than giving importance to dedicated party workers.
"Some of us have been show-caused. We are protesting to save the party. This time, the BJP did not get any seat in Bankura Municipality because of his incompetence. BJP won two wards in the previous election. They could not field candidates in many seats in panchayat. It is a shame," PTI quoted him as saying.
Amid the chaos, another group of BJP workers reached the spot, and a scuffle broke out between the two sides.
To bring the situation under control, a large police contingent went to the party office and rescued Sarkar, reported PTI citing a police officer.
BJP state spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya called the incident unfortunate and asserted that action will be taken against the party workers involved in the incident.
"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.
Bhattacharya said that Sarkar has no role in the district organisation, and the allegations against him stem from "misunderstandings".