BJP takes election protest to Delhi

Bengal BJP leaders meet Rajnath in New Delhi on Thursday

TT, Calcutta: Bengal BJP leaders marched in Delhi with alleged victims of the panchayat poll violence to highlight the "breakdown of democracy under Trinamul regime" before meeting the President, Vice-President and the Union home minister.

The protests - the brainchild of Mukul Roy, the former Trinamul Number Two - were aimed at embarrassing the Mamata Banerjee government by employing a strategy she had used on several occasions as an Opposition leader in Bengal.

"Mamata Banerjee had protested at this venue (Jantar Mantar) along with the victims of Left atrocities. The regime might have changed in Bengal but the situation has become worse now," Roy said while leading the group of 50.

The BJP team - also comprising Bengal minder Kailash Vijayvargiya, national secretary Rahul Sinha, Union minister Babul Supriyo and Rajya Sabha MP Roopa Ganguly - met President Ram Nath Kovind, home minister Rajnath Singh and Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu.

Rajnath promised to ask for a report from the Bengal government on the violence, the leaders said.

In Calcutta, Locket Chatterjee, the state president of the BJP women's wing, announced a 30-hour sit-in from Friday noon at Shyambazar Five-Point Crossing to protest atrocities on women candidates.