Kolkata, Sept. 18 -- Congress general secretary KC Venugopal on Friday accused the BJP of attempting to "hijack democracy" after the party's Nandigram Assembly bypoll candidate Milan Pradhan was allegedly arrested, claiming that a "dormant 19-year-old case from 2007" was used to arrest him shortly after former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee extended support to the Congress candidate.

In a post shared on X, Venugopal said, "Democracy is on ventilator in BJP's West Bengal. This is BJP's latest effort to ensure 'Opposition-Mukt Bharat', successfully converting our great Constitutional democracy into a Banana Republic."

"Using a dormant 19-year old case from 2007 to arrest our candidate - minutes after Mamata Banerjee ji extende...