BHOPAL: Dozens of ruling Congress workers were detained by police after they reportedly clashed with on duty cops who stopped them from forcing their way into the Madhya Pradesh BJP headquarters in Bhopal on Wednesday evening.
The incident happened when large number of Congressmen, including women, tried to force their way into the state BJP HQ at around 5 pm to protest the morning detention of ex-CM Digvijaya Singh and other Congress leaders in Bengaluru and alleged captivity of the 22 Congress rebels by BJP leaders in Bengaluru since March 9.
While, police present at the spot said that Congress workers clashed with them when stopped from entering the BJP office, local BJP leaders, including Vikas Virani alleged the Congress workers carrying rods and sticks tried to make their way into the BJP state HQ and even assaulted a few BJP leaders present outside the office.
"Despite knowing well about Congress’ plans to target BJP office, cops in full strength weren’t deployed, which suggests that the local police was hand in gloves with the unruly Congress workers," alleged Virani.
The Congress workers accused the local police of acting at the behest of central government and also alleged assault by BJP leaders near the state BJP HQ.
Importantly, the incident happened just a few hours after some Congress workers were detained for demonstrating outside the Raj Bhavan in the afternoon, while the 90-odd Congress MLAs were meeting Governor Lalji Tandonfor demanding the safe return of Congress MLAs, who they allege have been held captive by BJP leaders in Bengaluru to topple the state government.
Five days back, on March 13, Congress and BJP workers had reportedly clashed with each other outside Bhopal Airport, forcing the district administration then to impose prohibitory orders outside the Airport.
Importantly, prohibitory orders u/s 144 of CrPc are presently imposed in Bhopal, but the twin incidents – protest by Congress workers outside Raj Bhavan and then unruly scenes outside state BJP HQ – on Wednesday have exposed the state of policing in the state capital.
Earlier, in the day Congress MLAs met the Governor and requested him to initiate steps for safe return of the Congress MLA held captive at a hotel in Bengaluru.