Kolkata, March 20 – Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, accused an officer-in-charge of a police station in his native district of East Midnapore of making a WhatsApp call to a prominent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader from the district and asking the latter to join the Trinamool Congress.
"When our leadership announced the list of BJP candidates, our prominent leader from the district, Biswanath Banerjee, who was expected to be nominated, was not finally nominated. Soon after that, the officer-in-charge of the Mahishadal Police Station called Biswanath Banerjee and asked him to join the Trinamool Congress. The model code of conduct is already in effect. A police officer cannot engage in such political activities now," LoP Adhikari told the media.
Before interacting with the media, LoP Adhikari went to the Mahishadal Police Station to speak to the officer-in-charge of the police station.
However, the concerned police official was not present at that moment.
The LoP then spoke to the duty-in-charge of the police station and asked him to convey the message to the accused officer-in-charge to refrain from making such calls to BJP leaders and asking them to join the Trinamool Congress.
"I politely warned the accused police officer-in-charge today. But if similar incidents are repeated in the future, we will take the matter to the Election Commission of India (ECI)," LoP Adhikari said.
He also added that recently, the Sub-Divisional Police Officer of Tamluk did the same thing by calling some local BJP leaders to his official chamber and asking them to contest as independent candidates from the district.
"We (BJP) have video evidence of that incident as well. I am asking police officers and personnel at all levels, including civic volunteers, not to jeopardize their careers by engaging in actions on behalf of the ruling party when the model code of conduct is in effect. They should remember that they receive their salaries from the state exchequer and not from any particular political party or its outsourced vote-strategy agency," the LoP said.