Condemning today's assault of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's nephew Abhishek Banerjee in East Midnapore district, Trinamool Congress secretary-general Partha Chattejee said that he had asked the district SP to inquire into the incident and submit a report.
Banerjee, who is also Trinamool Youth Congress president, was slapped by a youth wearing a cap during a public meeting at Chandipur in East Midnapore district.
Chatterjee described the act as "cowardly" and said that the administration would act immediately.
"Already an arrest has been made," he said.
"I have asked the SP to conduct an inquiry and submit a report to the government. I also talked to Abhishek over phone. He told me that he had been slapped, received injury on his left eye and physically assaulted, but he never stopped addressing the gathering," Chatterjee said.
"No such attack on our leaders could stop us performing our duties and responsiblilites to people," he said.
Speaking about the identity of the attacker, who moved towards Abhishek while taking snaps on his cell phone before slapping him, Chatterjee said that the police was also asked to inquire about his details and arrest all those involved in the incident.
Reacting to the incident, TMC leader and Rajya Sabha member Derek O' Brien said, "On the pretext of taking a picture he (Abhishek) was slapped. We are in the hurly-burly of politics. We will look into this and we will find out whether there is any outsider involved."
"Unfortunate incident at a public meeting in Chandipur may have been a plan to attack our MP Abhishek Banerjee and threaten his life. Now, it is upto the administration to inquire into the matter and the law to take its course," he said.
