BJP supporters court arrest in Siliguri on Monday. A Telegraph picture

Siliguri, Sept. 10: The BJP and the Trinamul Congress pressed for the opening of the closed gardens in separate programmes during the day.

In the morning, BJP supporters led by the party’s district leadership demonstrated at the Siliguri Court campus today, demanding immediate reopening of the closed tea estates.

Policemen present there arrested 150-odd supporters and released them immediately.

The leaders then met the Siliguri subdivisional officer (SDO) Smita Pande.

“We submitted a memorandum to the SDO who promised to forward it to the authorities concerned,” said Pawan Kumar Neulia, the vice-president of the party in Siliguri, said.

The indefinite hunger strike started by Badal Debnath, the state secretary of the Bharatiya Majdoor Morcha, the trade union wing of the BJP, entered the seventh day today. Debnath has been fasting on the same demand.

The trade union leader today demanded an unconditional apology from Pande over the SDO’s alleged comments on the hunger strike.

“While talking to reporters this morning, the SDO has ridiculed my hunger strike,” said an angry Debnath. “She mentioned that I am doing well by drinking water, watching television and listening to songs. We want an unconditional apology from her in the next 24 hours or else we will call a strike in town on September 14.”

Debnath’s threat, however, is not backed by the BJP, which wants to deliberate for another 48 hours.

“I had just made casual remarks on what I had seen at the hunger strike mancha while passing the area. I never meant to hurt anybody,” the newly appointed SDO said.

The Trinamul Congress leaders on the other hand met the divisional commissioner in Jalpaiguri to press for the opening of the closed estates.

Gautam Deb, the chairman of the party’s core committee in north Bengal, said party chief Mamata Banerjee had met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Delhi today and sought his intervention on the issue.