Legislators and leaders of the state BJP attempted on Tuesday to undermine the initiatives taken by the Mamata Banerjee government in north Bengal.

Led by Suvendu Adhikari, the leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, they slammed the state government for being biased against north Bengal — a region with eight districts and a population of around 3.5 crore — over development.

The BJP leaders congregated at a hall in the guest house of New Jalpaiguri railway station on Tuesday at a time when chief minister Mamata Banerjee reached Kanchenjungha Stadium here for her event. The venues are around 5km apart.

“The chief minister was here for a leisure trip. She attended a family wedding and did some photo ops. She is irked with north Bengal as people of this region have voted the BJP. Now, she is trying to revive her party’s support base in the seven parliamentary seats which we have won. At the budget, allocations were elaborately made for the north Bengal development department in each fiscal but the actual release is far below,” said Adhikari.

He, along with the MLAs, also met with a group of people who had reached the venue.

“It is a government that ignores elected representatives of other parties. Today, despite a government function being held here, not a single MLA of BJP from the district and even the MP were invited. This doesn’t happen even when the Prime Minister attends any official event,” he said.

Adhikari, also the Nandigram BJP MLA, alleged corruption in the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration.

“There had been corruption in recruitment. We will soon launch a movement across the hills on the issue,” he said.

Later in the afternoon, he reached Uttarkanya, the branch secretariat of the state government on the southern end of Siliguri.

As Adhikari, along with around 10-odd party MLAs and party supporters, reached the entry point, police officers, who had raised barricades, stopped them.

“We MLAs want to pay a visit to Uttarkanya. We will just have a look at the facility and will leave,” Adhikari told them.

The police refused them entry. BJP leaders, including Adhikari, started shouting slogans against Mamata and her government.

The demonstration continued for around 10 minutes after which A.R. Bardhan, the principal secretary of the north Bengal development department who was present at the secretariat, met the MLAs.

He invited Adhikari and other MLAs inside but the latter refused.

“The police officer who refused us entry should apologise to us. We will go to the Jalpaiguri Circuit Bench of Calcutta High Court to get permission and then enter Uttarkanya. People here don’t get any service from the secretariat,” said Adhikari.

Soon, the BJP contingent left the spot, again shouting slogans.

District Trinamul leaders scoffed at Adhikari and other BJP leaders.

“During the chief minister’s visit to Siliguri, they (BJP leaders) simply wanted to foment tension. Suvendu Adhikari resorted to theatrics in a bid to earn political dividends. The BJP has realised that it is fast losing support in north Bengal and that is why it indulging in such acts,” said Vedabrata Dutta, the Trinamul spokesperson of Darjeeling (plains).