HUBBALLI: Congress and JDS workers sparred with each other, when members of the Grand Old Party staged a protest near a venue where the regional party was holding a meeting here on Tuesday. The workers of both groups were emotionally-charged, and the police struggled to control them. However, the situation was brought under control when the police managed to take the Congress workers away from the venue.
Initially, a few Congress workers, led by Hubballi-Dharwad unit president Anilkumar Patil, staged a protest and raised slogans against the JDS leaders, as JDS state president HD Kumaraswamy was moving towards the meeting venue. This angered the latter’s followers and they countered the Congressman by raising slogans against the Congress government and KPCC president DK Shivakumar.
While the Congress protesters were demanding action against Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna, the JDS workers countered that the latter had already been suspended from the party, and since the Congress was in power, they must take further action if required. This sloganeering and counter-sloganeering went on for a while. As the JDS workers outnumbered those of the ruling party, the police found it difficult to defuse the situation. As some more Congress workers joined the protest and started charging against the opposition party, its workers and leaders attending the meeting also entered the confrontation.
As the acrimony between the two sides only grew, additional police personnel were deployed from the nearby station and some DCPs also arrived on the scene. Later, a heated exchange followed between the protesters, and some allegedly even attacked each other. The police acted swiftly and forcibly dispersed the Congress workers and took them away from the venue to bring the situation under control.
Later, Hubballi-Dharwad Police Commissioner Renuka Sukumar was caught unawares of whether the Congress had taken permission to hold a protest, but she said she would discuss the matter with the concerned police station. She also defended the presence of the police force before the protest went out of control, and added that an additional force was deployed immediately. She did not say anything about protesters attacking each other, however, if anybody registers a complaint, the police would initiate action.
