Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief JP Nadda was scheduled to visit West Bengal on Tuesday amid reports of post-poll violence in the state that prompted the Union home ministry, the state Governor to ask reports from the administration, and former lawmaker Swapan Dasgupta to seek deployment of security forces in Birbhum. “Alarming situation in Nanoor (Birbhum district) with more than a thousand Hindu families out in the fields to escape marauding mobs seeking to take it out against BJP supporters. Reports of molestation or worse of women. [Union home minister] @AmitShah please rush some security to the area,” tweeted BJP leader Swapan Dasgupta.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who swept back to power for a third time in the state on Sunday and is expected to be sworn in on Wednesday, urged people to maintain peace and not to resort to any violence.

Her Trinamool Congress (TMC) refuted BJP’s allegations that its workers were behind all the violence. “It is the fight between the BJP’s old-timers and newcomers. Even their president of the state unit had been a victim of such infighting in the past. Why should the TMC resort to any violence?” asked Kunal Ghosh, TMC spokesman.