BJP leader offers 'bounty on Mamata's head'

Yogesh Varshney, a leader of BJP youth wing Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), has announced a ''bounty'' of 11 lakh rupees on West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's head after the police used batons to disperse a rally raising slogans in praise of Lord Ram on Hanuman Jayanti on Tuesday.

"The Mamata government beat up people. If someone was wearing a red shirt or a red pant, they were beaten up brutally by the police. I don't understand, Mamata Banerjee organises Iftar party, she argues for the Muslims. I want to ask her, are Hindus not human? If they had any humanity, they wouldn't have beaten up people like this. If anyone brings me her severed head, I will give that person 11 lakh rupees," he said.

At Suri in Birbhum district, when processionists tried to break an iron barrier erected by the police, the law enforcers made a lathi charge.

At another place on the outskirts of Suri, thousands of people ignored a police ban to participate in a rally taken out under the aegis of an organisation observing Hanuman Jayanti.

The police on Sunday told the organisers of Bir Hanuman Jayanti that it would not allow holding of any rally or meeting on Tuesday.

The organisers on Tuesday urged the police to allow the rally after a promise that they would not carry arms. However, the police did not budge from their stand.

West Bengal general secretary of BJP Sayantan Basu on Tuesday alleged at a press meet that "The district administration at first had accorded permission, but later withdrew it on order of the TMC bosses."