With Opposition stirring Jahangirpuri political pot, TMC sending fact-finding team to Delhi

With the Jahangirpuri violence stirring the political pot, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) has decided to send a fact-finding team to the national capital on Friday, party sources said.

The TMC MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar is among the party members in the fact-finding team, sources said.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee-led TMC has joined the bandwagon of the Opposition in stepping up the heat on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) following the Jahangirpuri violence and the subsequent demolition drive carried out by North Delhi Municipal Corporation in Jahangirpuri on Thursday.

The TMC's move has come in the backdrop of Communist Party of India (Marxist) Politburo member Brinda Karat visiting the area to demand the halt of the demolition drive on Wednesday. At the same time, Congress has also decided to jump the bandwagon and send a team of leaders, including former Union minister Ajay Maken, to the site on Thursday.

Violence broke out between two communities in Jahanagirpuri on April 16 during a Hanuman Jayanti procession. The incident left nine people injured, including eight police personnel and a civilian.

Following the incident, the BJP ruled North MCD had scheduled an "encroachment removal action programme", wherein illegal construction in the Jahangirpuri area would be removed on Wednesday and Thursday.

After the demolition drive started on Wednesday, Supreme Court ordered a "status-quo" on it.

The demolition drive was then criticized by members of the Opposition parties, including Congress leaders Shashi Tharoor and Rahul Gandhi, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen chief Asaduddin Owaisi, Delhi Environment Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Gopal Rai, Communist Party of India (Marxist) Politburo member Brinda Karat among others.

The TMC's move to send a team is being seen as a reciprocatory move as the BJP had sent a five-member fact-finding committee to West Bengal after arson in the Rampurhat area of West Bengal's Birbhum district.

The BJP chief JP Nadda had formed a five-member fact-finding committee comprising West Bengal state party president Sukanta Majumdar, Rajya Sabha MP and former Uttar Pradesh DGP Brajlal, Lok Sabha MP and former Mumbai Police Commissioner Satya Pal Singh, Rajya Sabha MP and former IPS KC Ramamurty and party spokesperson and former IPS Bharati Ghosh.

Eight people were killed in the Rampurhat area of West Bengal's Birbhum after a mob allegedly set houses on fire following the killing of TMC leader Bhadur Sheikh.

Recently, the BJP had also sent a fact-finding team consisting of five members to Hanshkhali in Nadia district where a minor girl died after she was allegedly gang-raped.

( With inputs from ANI )