Trinamool Congress leader Anubrata Mandal
A leader from the Trinamool Congress has threatened to chop off the hands of Congress workers if they tried to damage hoardings of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
"If you (Congress workers) beat up Trinamool supporters and tear flags and posters of our party and Mamata Banerjee, then our supporters will cut off your wrists," Anubrata Mandal, the Birbhum district president of the Trinamool Congress, said while addressing a party programme in Burdwan district's Katwa area in West Bengal.
Soon after Mr Mandal's remarks, opposition parties in West Bengal lashed out at Mamata Banerjee's government.
"Mamata Banerjee during her campaign had said they want change. They will not take revenge. But after forming the government, they have started taking revenge against the Left, especially the CPM," said CPM leader Biman Bose.
"We are not at all astonished by this. Their ministers speak in such a manner. People wanted a 'parivartana'. They got it. Look what is happening. One hegemony being replaced by another,"said BJP's Samik Bhattacharya.
"Anubrata Mandal has the backing of the Trinamool Congress and the government. He has asked his partymen to indulge in violence... He has become the hero of Trinamool Congress," said West Bengal Congress leader Om Prakash Mishra.
The state Congress leadership has also urged the State Election Commission to take strong action against Mr Mandal, who had courted controversy during the last Panchayat elections when he had reportedly asked party supporters to burn the houses of independent candidates and hurl bombs at policemen if they went to rescue the candidates.
However, a day after Mr Mandal's hate speech, he was seen sharing dais during a press conference with Trinamool general secretary Mukul Roy and party's MP from Birbhum, Shatabdi Roy.