Dhankhar warns Bengal officials for blocking BJP MPs' activities

Kolkata, April 17 West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Friday expressed "concern" over "politically motivated actions" meted out to impede activities of BJP MPs by district officials, and warned the administration and police of "serious consequences," saying their actions were under "scrutiny for exemplary action".

Dhankhar's outburst on twitter came after the state BJP accused the Mamata Banerjee administration of preventing its MPs from distributing relief to the needy during the Covid-induced lockdown by deploying the police to limit their movements through house detention and filing of cases as an intimidatory tactics.

In a series of tweets where he mentioned BJP Lok Sabha members Jayanta Roy, John Barla, Subhas Sarkar and Arjun Singh, Dhankhar said he has flagged the issue to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.

"Concerned at politically motivated actions meted out to MPs @Drsubhassarkar @johnbarlabjp @ArjunsinghWB @RajuBistaBJP by police and administration @MamataOfficial in overzealous mode. Flagged issue @loksabhaspeaker," Dhankhar said.

"This major misconduct is under scrutiny for exemplary action," he added.

Earlier, state BJP General Secretary Sayantan Basu alleged that while the ruling Trinamool Congress leaders and workers were virtually escorted by the police to distribute relief, the saffron party's MPs were "virtually under house arrest".

"An FIR has been filed against our MP from Bankura Subhas Sarkar for a social media post about the "hasty cremation" of two persons, said Basu.

He said the BJP Lok Sabha member from Alipurduar John Barla is in "virtual house arrest" for over four days.

Barla in a video post alleged that a large posse of policemen laid siege on his house and were not allowing him to step out.

In a complaint to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Barla sought his help and support so that he could reach out to the needy people in their hard times.

Jayanta Roy, a doctor-MP from Jalpaiguri, is also not being allowed to leave his house so as to prevent him from distributing relief. He is also virtually under house arrest, Basu alleged.

The Lok Sabha member from Barrackpore Arjun Singh also had heated exchanges with the police after his car was stopped in Amdanga of 24 Parganas (North) district, where he had gone to distribute relief.

( With inputs from IANS )