Guwahati: BJP has expressed concern over pre-poll violence in Samaguri and denied responsibility for the clash involving a Congress campaign convoy.Campaigning turned violent on Monday when a Congress convoy was allegedly attacked with stones at Barma in Samaguri.Congress alleged that BJP workers attacked the convoy, while BJP and CM Himanta Biswa Sarma attributed the clash to factional rivalry within Congress. Police and paramilitary personnel intervened and used a lathi charge to disperse the crowd.BJP state spokesperson Kishor Kumar Bhattacharyya said, “The Congress party’s attempt to hold the BJP responsible for the incident is nothing short of absurd. Given that Congress is itself afflicted by recurring internal conflicts and factional rivalries, there is a greater possibility that persons associated with the Congress were involved in the incident.”Bhattacharyya said electoral violence was not new to Samaguri, adding that earlier inquiries linked several incidents to internal factional conflicts. He alleged that former Samaguri MLA Rakibul Hussain treated the constituency as his “personal hereditary domain”.He also alleged that dynastic politics, ticket-related financial transactions, power struggles and internal rivalries contributed to such confrontations.
