Indian Politician Shot Dead in Eastern State of West Bengal

(Bloomberg) -- An Indian state lawmaker was shot dead in West Bengal on Saturday amid rising tensions between the provincial and federal governments.

Satyajit Biswas, who belonged to the state’s ruling All India Trinamool Congress party, was shot by assailants near his home on Saturday night, the Times of India reported, citing the police. The Trinamool Congress said on Twitter the death was part of an orchestrated plan designed to benefit the Bharatiya Janata Party, which runs the federal government. The charge was dismissed by the BJP.

BJP President for West Bengal, Dilip Ghosh, said the death was “unfortunate” and that Biswas’s party was trying to politicize the incident, according to the report. The BJP has previously accused West Bengal’s government of being complicit in the death of BJP supporters in the state. Last year, a 20-year-old BJP worker was found hanging from a tree with a messages written on his T-shirt that said he was killed for helping the party, according to news channel NDTV.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who leads the Trinamool Congress, has been fiercely critical of Narendra Modi’s ruling party and recently hosted a meeting of opposition politicians united against the prime minister ahead of a general election due by May.

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