NEW DLEHI
\nGunmen on motorbikes in India\u2019s West Bengal ambushed and killed a political aide from the ruling Hindu-nationalist party days after it swept state elections, police said Thursday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi\u2019s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won a resounding victory on Monday in the eastern state of more than 100 million people, taking 207 of the 294 assembly seats, for its first-ever state victory in West Bengal.
\nChandranath Rath, 41, a close aide of West Bengal\u2019s BJP chief Suvendu Adhikari was shot dead late on Wednesday near his home in Kolkata. Adhikari, the leader of the opposition in the state assembly, now tipped to become the state chief minister, called it \u201ccold-blooded murder\u201d.
\nMotorbikes blocked Rath\u2019s vehicle, before the attackers opened fire in a barrage of around a dozen shots, hitting Rath multiple times in the heart. \u201cThe shooting happened at about 11 pm on Wednesday \u2014 the bikes that stopped Rath\u2019s car have been seized,\u201d West Bengal police chief Siddh Nath Gupta told media.
\n\u201cThe bikes had fake registration numbers, and we are looking for the assailants.\u201dPritam Sengupta, a doctor at Apollo Hospital told media, that Rath was \u201cbrought dead with multiple bullet injuries in his chest.\u201d The killing brings the total killed since the results were announced on Monday to at least five.
\nWest Bengal had been ruled by Modi\u2019s fierce critic and adversary, Mamata Banerjee, as chief minister since 2011.Banerjee, leader of the regional All India Trinamool Congress (TMC), also lost her seat in the polls and has rejected the results.
\nAnalysts say the BJP\u2019s victory in the largely Bengali-speaking state is one of its most significant since Modi was first elected prime minister in 2014, expanding its dominance beyond the Hindi-speaking heartland of north and central India. The killing has added to political tensions in the state, with the BJP and TMC trading accusations over the deaths since the results.
\n\u201cIt was a planned murder,\u201d BJP\u2019s West Bengal president Samik Bhattacharya said.\u201cThis is expected from Trinamool Congress,\u201d he alleged. \u201cThey are responsible for this death\u201d. The TMC rejected any role in the shooting, but accused the BJP of targeting their supporters.
\n\u201cWe strongly condemn the brutal murder of Chandranath Rath,\u201d the party said in a statement, adding that it also condemned attacks on TMC members \u201callegedly carried out by BJP-backed miscreants\u201d. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NEW DLEHI Gunmen on motorbikes in India\u2019s West Bengal ambushed and killed a political aide from the ruling Hindu-nationalist party days after it swept state elections, police said Thursday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi\u2019s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won a resounding victory on Monday in the eastern state of more than 100 million people, taking 207 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":545254,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-545243","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n