MALUR: Two groups of BJP workers were embroiled in an altercation in Malur during a preliminary meeting of Vijay Sankalp Yatra on Thursday. A few workers came close to exchanging blows. However, the police intervened, facilitating the meeting to take place.
Sources said that followers of former MLA Kodi Halli Manjunath Gowda were present on stage. When district president Venugopal was addressing the gathering, ticket aspirant Hoodi Vijaya Kumar’s supporters asked why Manjunath’s followers were on the stage.
They claimed to have been working for the party for several years, and alleged that those who had joined the party recently are sitting on the stage. This resulted in a heated altercation in the presence of Venugopal and Chandra Reddy.
They tried to pacify their supporters, who began raising slogans. Speaking to TNIE, a senior BJP leader from Malur said former minister Krishnaiah Setty had won from Malur on a BJP ticket. “The party has grown in the constituency, but there is no unity among senior leaders and workers,” he said.