Amidst heated campaigning for the upcoming Assembly by-election in the Palakkad constituency, a midnight police raid at a hotel here on suspicion of the arrival of black money triggered an intense political row on Wednesday. Around midnight, the police conducted searches, including in the hotel rooms where prominent women politicians from the Congress, such as Bindu Krishna and Shanimol Usman, were staying. The incident occurred as the Congress-UDF is working hard to retain its sitting constituency, while the ruling CPI (M)-led LDF and the BJP-NDA are making every effort to wrest the seat from the grand old party. The Congress leadership, vehemently protesting the police action, alleged that it was a "midnight police drama" jointly orchestrated by the BJP and the CPI (M) due to their fear of a potential poll debacle. However, the Marxist party and the BJP rejected the allegations and accused the Congress of "distributing" large amounts of black money to secure a victory in the ...