Dec. 17: Flowerpots have done what bloodspill could not.

A Trinamul MP has used phrases such as 'bloody irresponsible' to express his ire at Birbhum police, not for the burst of political violence there but after flowerpots had been reported missing from his home.

Such was the rage of Anupam Hazra, a first-time MP and a teacher in the social work department of Visva-Bharati, that he used Facebook to attack Birbhum police.

'I think Bolpur is the only constituency in India where district police administration is least bothered about the security of its Hon'ble Member of Parliament (MP)!!! Bloody irresponsible Birbhum district police administration!!!' he wrote in a post at 11.14pm on Tuesday.

Not that everyone would shed tears for Birbhum police, who had come under attack from the Opposition in recent times for their alleged partisan role in the district where at least five persons have been killed in a turf war between Trinamul and the BJP.

But sources in Trinamul said the outburst from the Bolpur MP - who made the post from Delhi, where he is attending the winter session of Parliament - had left the party in a tricky situation.

'The home department is under the chief minister and this is the reason the Opposition parties are extremely critical about the police. If one of our own MPs writes what the Opposition parties are alleging, it embarrasses the party. Being an MP, we expected some maturity from him,' a Trinamul leader said.

The post was withdrawn around 2.30pm today but by then more than 90 people had 'liked' it and around 50 had commented.

Hazra told The Telegraph he lost his cool not for some flowerpots at his home in Sriniketan (near Santiniketan) but as he was worried that intruders had entered his residence and the administration could do nothing.

'I wondered how somebody could enter the residence of an MP. This had frustrated me,' Hazra said.

Policemen are not posted at the residences of VIPs in the district until anyone seeks security in writing, senior officers said.

Asked whether he had sought security, Hazra said: 'Earlier, I had asked for extra security to visit some troubled areas of the district but the requests had fallen on the deaf ears of the SP. I don't want to write to the SP any more.'

District police superintendent Alok Rajoria refused to comment.

Anubrata Mondal, the Trinamul district president, tried to play down the post. 'The district police are working well and providing security to all, including Anupam. I don't know why he wrote this,' said Mondal.

The BJP did not miss the chance to hit back at the ruling party.

'We expected the Bolpur MP to utter these words when common people were getting killed because of the inefficiency of the police. But unfortunately, he realised the truth when some flowerpots went missing from his residence,' said Dudh Kumar Mondal, the Birbhum district BJP president.

Sources said some senior district police officers discussed the post among themselves and felt that such comments from leaders of the ruling party would encourage their cadres to attack law-enforcers.

'The SP has been urged by senior police officers to let Nabanna know that the district police are really concerned about such comments. If such activities continue, the morale of the police force would go down as attacks on policemen have become a regular feature in Birbhum over the past few months,' said an officer.

According to the sources, Hazra was alerted by a youth who went to the MP's residence to sleep there as his family was away.

'The youth informed the MP that some empty earthen flowerpots were missing. The MP got angry and called up a local party leader and asked him to look into the matter. A police team went there and found nothing serious. This angered the MP and he used Facebook to express his feelings,' said a source.

The MP, Opposition parties alleged, was silent when he should have pulled up the police during the clashes between the BJP and Trinamul.

In the past few months, clashes between the BJP and Trinamul have become a regular feature in villages like Makhra and Choumondalpur in the Parui police station area. BJP leaders had alleged that the police did not act on time.