Refuting allegations of violence against the Trinamool Congress ahead of the rural polls in the state, party’s secretary general Partha Chatterjee on Friday said that the party has tried its best to maintain peace.

“We are the ruling party, why should we indulge in violence?” he retorted. The rural polls will be held on 14 May according to an announcement of the State Election Commission.

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“The Opposition in several cases have provoked our party workers and leaders. Our party has tried its best to maintain peace. The Opposition parties wanted to postpone the election by moving to the court as they don’t have any support base in the state,” said Mr Chatterjee.

Taking a dig at e-filing of nominatons, Mr Chatterjee wondered, if the Opposition parties are so afraid to file their nominations then how will they campaign for the polls or come out on the polling day for casting votes.

“I would advise them (Opposition) that if they don’t have the courage then they should refrain from coming to politics,” the Trinamool secretary general said. On controversial Trinamool Congress leader Anubrata Mondal abusing poet Shankha Ghosh, he said that the poet should have refrained from making personal attacks through his writings.

“I don’t support both the incidents. He is one of my favorite poets. I feel he should have refrained from making personnel attacks,” Mr Chatterjee said and at the same time lauded Mondal for his organisational skills.

Mr Chatterjee’s comment comes at the backdrop of Jnanpith and Padma Bhushan awardee Shankha Ghosh writing a poem criticising the ongoing violence during filing of nominations for the panchayat election.

Mondal had verbally attacked the poet and questioned his credibility as a poet. Mr Chatterjee hoped that his party would emerge victorious in panchayat polls.

He said that the Opposition failed to field candidates in 34 per cent seats across the state. Commenting on the Opposition being united at grassroots level, Mr Chatterjee said, the CPI-M is not against the BJP in the state, so they are fighting together but “we are banking on chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s all round development in both rural and urban areas”.