Tension ran high at the COEP Technological University campus on Friday as the cadres of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) came face to face.
The incident comes on the eve of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s visit to Pune to address the students.
The ABVP state Secretary Atharva Kulkarni alleged that the varsity students were being pressured by NSUI workers to attend Gandhi’s programme as the organisers were struggling to get an audience.
“Around 100-150 NSUI workers entered the COEP campus and heckled female students. Some of the students who tried to intervene were also targeted,” he alleged.
On the other hand NSUI cadres claimed that some of the varsity students had planned to attend Gandhi’s interaction and raise the issue that they are not getting the scholarship money from the state government. They refuted the ABVP allegation that they heckled any student.
“When ABVP cadres came to know of this, they went to the university and requested them not to attend Gandhi’s event. We also went there and protested against ABVP for trying to stop students from attending Gandhi’s event,” said city Congress youth president Akshay Jain.
{{/usCountry}}“When ABVP cadres came to know of this, they went to the university and requested them not to attend Gandhi’s event. We also went there and protested against ABVP for trying to stop students from attending Gandhi’s event,” said city Congress youth president Akshay Jain.
{{/usCountry}}Things took a bitter turn when both the groups raised slogans against each other. The leader of the Opposition in the state assembly and Congress leader, Vijay Wadettiwar reached the varsity premises and pacified the NSUI cadres.
The Pune city has deployed police personnel in the campus to prevent any untoward incident.