The Communist Party of India-Marxist's peasant wing Monday accused the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal of resorting to violence to counter prevailing negative public sentiments.
"To retain power amid growing opposition from people towards it, the Trinamool Congress is resorting to terror," said Madan Ghosh, president of Paschimbanga Pradeshik Krishak Sabha here.
Ghosh said that goons patronised by the Trinamool Congress were preventing opposition candidates from filing nominations for the upcoming panchayat (rural body) polls in the state.
"Left candidates and many other non-Trinamool candidates have been attacked. Efforts are being made to stall the democratic machinery in the state," said Ghosh.
In the wake of a prolonged tug of war between the State Election Commission and the Mamata Banerjee-led government over the panchayat polls, Ghosh said the attitude of the state government was increasingly jeopardising the crucial polls.