A war of words broke out between the BJP and the Trinamool Congress with Union Minister Babul Supriyo on Sunday prescribing imposition of Article 356 in Bengal even as he said that the State combined all the material conditions required to enforce President’s Rule.

Supriyo, a second-time MP from Asansol, said that the recent chain of events in Bengal demanded imposition of Article 356.

“From the arrest of six Al Qaida terror moles from Murshidabad to murder of opposition workers including BJP councilor Manish Shukla to insulting the Sikh community by assaulting a Sikh man by his turban during a BJP rally, shows that Bengal is a fit case for Article 356,” the singer-turned-politician said drawing sharp remarks from senior Trinamool Congress leadership. Senior TMC MP Sougato Roy promptly hit back saying Babul Supriyo was a political greenhorn with little knowledge of the constitutional laws.

“A novice as he is, Babul has jumped into politics from Bombay where he was a singer. He has no idea of constitutional laws. He should know that before imposing Article 356 there is an advisory needed under Article 355,” Roy said wondering whether in Uttar Pradesh where one person had killed 8 cops President’s Rule had been imposed. He also said “the murder of Manish Shukla was an affair among the Bahubalis (strongmen) which however is being investigated into by the CID.”

He further said that union minister was making “absurd claims to hog attention, as he is not in good terms with State BJP president Dilip Ghosh which is why he is not getting any prominence in his party.”

Incidentally a BJP delegation led by its all-India vice president Mukul Roy on Sunday met Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar with a demand for a CBI investigation into the Shukla murder case. This even as BJP strongman and MP from Barrackpore Arjun Singh on Sunday alleged that the State Government was trying to implicate him in the murder case.

Shukla, a former TMC leader like Singh, was considered the right hand man of the Barrackpore MP..