JAMSHEDPUR: The local unit of BJP here has taken steps to provide shelter and security to at least 80 gram panchayat members of their party allegedly thrown out of their villages in West Bengal by Trinamool Congress (TMC) members."We have put them (gram panchayat members) up at Agrasen Dharamshala and Naya Bazaar Dharmshala in Chakulia," BJP functionary Sameer Mahanty said. These gram panchayat members are from Nayagram, Gopiballabhpur, Beliabera, Shalboni and Binpur of the neighbouring state.Abani Ghosh, a BJP leader from Jhargram in West Bengal, said: "TMC leaders have been using threats to make us support their candidates as gram pradhans. They often barge into our houses at night and threaten that they will not spare us if we do not support their candidates. The pradhan poll process will continue till the middle of August."Mahanty said a few more panchayat members from Jhargram may arrive here soon.Immediately after the panchayat election in Bengal in May, elected BJP members started taking refuge in different parts of Jharkhand to escape the alleged 'violence' unleashed by TMC supporters.In June, Jharkhand BJP president Lakshman Gilua had said that hundreds of BJP workers had fled West Bengal to avoid being killed by TMC cadres who, he claimed, unleashed a reign of terror after the panchayat poll results were declared. TNN

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