Some unknown miscreants allegedly backed by Indian Secular Front (ISF) set fire to a party office of ruling Trinamul Congress at Chaltaberia in Bhangar of South 24 Parganas district at a time, when activists of the two parties got involved in a clash during bypolls in Haroa Assembly constituency in North 24 Parganas on Wednesday.

With support of the CPM-led Left Front (LF), the ISF has fielded Piyarul Islam in Haroa this time to take on the ruling party in the state. Trinamul Congress men allegedly assaulted Mr Islam and his polling agent during elections. In 2021 Assembly polls, Trinamul Congress candidate had won the seat against its nearest rival BJP.

On Wednesday, the incident of setting fire on the Trinamul Congress office at Krishnamati in the Chaltaberia has triggered tensions in Bhangar particularly at a time when incidents sporadic violence, including murder of a local leader of the ruling party in Bhatpara of North 24 Parganas, were reported during bypolls in six Assembly constituencies, including Haroa throughout the day.

Trinamul Congress’ local leadership in Bhangar alleged that some unknown miscreants, backed by ISF, torched their office on Monday night. Many documents of the ruling party have been burnt and damaged, Trinamul Congress alleged.

They also alleged that the miscreants have also damaged flexes and banners of their leaders like Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee.

“We are very worried about the incident and have briefed the incident to our party leadership. With support of the ISF it’s a planned attack on our office. We demand police administration to take prompt action so that culprits involved in the incident must be arrested. One local vegetable vendor spotted the incident first in the wee hours today,” claimed Kalam Mollah, Trinamul Congress member of the local rural body.

Rubbishing the allegations made by the rival Trinamul Congress ISF leader Rainur Haque, member of the zilla parishad, said, “Baseless and false allegations made by Trinamul Congress against us. We never believe in the politics of violence. The incident is a sequel to an internal feud of the ruling party in the area.”

Police have started patrolling in the area and an investigation is being carried out, according to a senior official.