Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla on Sunday backed Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury for slamming the Trinamool Congress (TMC) after a team of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) was attacked in West Bengal’s North 24 Pargana district. According to Poonawalla, Adhir Ranjan is the “tallest leader of the grand old party in the state”.

“TMC means ‘Talibani Mindset and Culture’, and this has been confirmed by one of the tallest leaders in Congress, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury. After the violence that took place against central agencies in West Bengal, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury demanded the President’s rule,” the BJP leader said.

However, Poonawalla took a swipe at the central leadership of the Congress party for remaining in ties with the TMC in the INDIA bloc. “On one hand, Congress makes an alliance with TMC to ‘save democracy’ and on the other hand, their leader (Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury) says that democracy is in peril in West Bengal. Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi must tell whether they agree with Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury or they do not agree with him. What kind of alliance is this?” he questioned.

On the other hand, Adhir Ranjan criticised ED by calling it an “idiot” while speaking on the central agency issuing a lookout circular against TMC leader Shahjahan Sheikh after the attack. “What will ED do? ED is itself an idiot. The ruling party in Bengal will look after him,” the Congress MP said.

On Friday, an 800-strong mob attacked an ED team when the agency officials went to search the house of TMC leader Shahjahan Sheikh in connection with an alleged ration scam. Sheikh is considered to be a close aide of state minister Jyotipriyo Mallick who was arrested in connection with the multi-crore ration distribution scam.

A day later, the federal agency team, accompanied by central force personnel, was attacked again when the officials were leaving TMC leader Shankar Adhya’s house after arresting him. While no one was injured in the incident, a vehicle of the central agency’s team was damaged during stone pelting.

(With inputs from agencies)