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Congress continues stir across states
In Chandigarh, the police used water cannon to disperse Congress workers taking a march towards the Raj Bhavan.
The Congress on Thursday held protests across state capitals against the questioning of senior party leader Rahul Gandhi by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with its money laundering probe in the National Herald case.
The protests, part of the party’s “Chalo Raj Bhavan”, turned violent in Telangana, with the police resorting to mild use of force to disperse a large number of Congress leaders and party workers from marching towards the Raj Bhavan in Hyderabad.
The action came following Congress workers pelting stones at state transport corporation buses and burning a two-wheeler as they marched towards the Raj Bhavan, raising slogans against the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Union government, alleging witch-hunt against the Opposition leaders, a police officer said.
Several Congress leaders, including party’s Telangana unit president A Revanth Reddy, senior leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, former MP Renuka Chowdhary, PCC working president T Jagga Reddy and former minister J Geetha Reddy, were arrested by the police about 500 metres from the governor’s house.
Chowdhury was seen in a video purportedly grabbing the collar of a police official during the protest before being taken away by women police personnel.
“The police should be held responsible for the tense situation at Raj Bhavan. We only wanted to take out a rally and submit a memorandum to Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan,” said Jagga Reddy.
In Chandigarh, the police used water cannon to disperse Congress workers taking a march towards the Raj Bhavan. The protest was led by Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring.
When some Congress workers tried to jump barricades put up to stop the crowd, the police used a water cannon to disperse them. Later, they were briefly detained.
In Pondicherry, former chief minister V Narayanasamy and several other party functionaries were taken into custody when they tried to stage a demonstration outside territorial assembly.
In Assam, Congress leaders, including party state unit president Bhupen Kumar Borah, and deputy leader of opposition Rakibul Hussain were detained when they tried to proceed to Raj Bhavan. Protests by Congress workers were also reported from other state capitals although there was no untoward incident from most places.
