AHMEDABAD: More than 60 Congress workers including two Congress MLAs, were detained by the local police at Modasa town of Arvalli district today as a precautionary measure to stop them from staging a protest at a government function attended by Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel.
The Congress has been staging protests in various parts of the state supporting the demand of farmers to increase the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of cotton.
Yesterday, Arvalli district's Congress unit HAD announced that black flags will be waved when the Chief Minister arrives to attend the 'Ravi Krishi Mahotsav' programme, being organised at Hajira village near Modasa town.
As announced, more than 60 Congress workers, led by Modasa Congress MLA Rajendra Thakor and Bhiolda MLA Anil Joshiara, gathered at Hajira crossroads this morning.
"The CM was scheduled to arrive at the function at 11 AM today. We learned that Congress leaders had planned to storm the event. Thus, as a precautionary measure, we detained 60 of them, including Thakor and Joshiara, near Hajira crossroads at 10.40 am. Later, we released them at 3 pm," Modasa Police Inspector K G Chaudhari said.
Later, Congress condemned the police action against their MLAs.
"Both our MLAs are elected representatives of that area and wanted to make a representation to the CM about the MSP issue.
However, the BJP government detained them and stopped them for doing their work," Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) spokesperson Manish Doshi said.