A widow and her two daughters were killed early on Friday after the earthen wall of their mud hut collapsed amid incessant rain in Kamarpara area of Mandirbazar in South 24-Parganas, sparking a Trinamool-BJP blame game.

Police identified the deceased as Brihaspati Karmakar, 48, and her daughters Shila, 15, and Priya, 10.

Local sources said a depression over the Bay of Bengal had triggered heavy rain that weakened the hut’s walls. Around dawn, one of the main walls gave way, burying the sleeping trio.

Neighbours, noticing the collapsed structure after sunrise, rushed to help but by then all three had died.

The victims had been living in the mud hut since the death of Brihaspati’s husband. Her elder son, a migrant labourer, worked outside the village.

Police and local residents said the family had been allotted a house under the Centre’s rural housing scheme. Construction had reached up to the roof but work remained incomplete as the next tranche of funds was pending.

A neighbour, Barna Karmakar, said: “The three of them came to our house amid heavy rain on Thursday night. The wall of their hut was leaning badly. I asked them to stay with us for the night, but Brihaspati didn’t listen,” she said.

The tragedy has sparked political debate, with Trinamool squarely holding the Centre responsible for holding up housing funds and the BJP accusing Trinamool of corruption.

Mandirbazar MLA Joydeb Halder said: “This family’s home started being built long ago but could not be completed as funds were frozen by the Centre. Our state government started working on incomplete houses, but this family’s turn had not come yet. Had the central government not stopped funds, these three lives could have been saved.”

Trinamool’s Mathurapur MP Bapi Haldar echoed the charge. “During the past few years, several people have died in wall collapses because their houses under the central scheme could not be completed due to frozen funds. We don’t know how many such deaths will satisfy Narendra Modi before he decides to release housing funds for Bengal,” he said.

The Centre held up funds under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Rural) to Bengal following charges of widespread irregularities in beneficiary lists. While the Centre insisted that funds would not be released until corrections were completed, Trinamool has consistently accused the BJP government of playing politics with the poor.

A BJP leader in Mandirbazar blamed Trinamool for the deaths.

“It is the Trinamool leaders who should ask themselves how transparent they are and how many genuine beneficiaries they deprived to satisfy their own interest. It is the corrupt local administration run by party leaders to be blamed only for suspension of funds, and there is no other reason at all,” the BJP leader said.