A sudden road-repair drive on Sunday in front of a Kali Puja pandal in Balurghat set to be inaugurated by Union minister and local BJP MP Sukanta Majumder sparked the charge that the Trinamool–run civic board tried to sabotage it.

Majumder, also the former state BJP chief, however did inaugurate the Kali Puja pandal of the Sare Tin Number More Club on Sunday evening.

In the morning, civic workers began digging up the road directly in front of the pandal site, blocking the approach with barricades.

Club members alleged the move was politically motivated. The BJP’s Balurghat town unit called it “political vendetta" and "spite".

“Trinamool deliberately created obstacles,” said Samir Prasad Dutta, the town BJP president.

The civic body chairman denied it. “It is the BJP’s job to spread slander,” said civic chairman Ashok Mitra, asserting that the road repair was routine and scheduled before the festival.