A scuffle broke out between Congress activists and toddy tappers near the controversial toddy shop at South Bazaar when the former reached there to convey their solidarity with local residents who were on an agitation against the toddy shop which was recently shifted to their locality.
A tense situation prevailed when a group of Congress activists led by A.P. Abdullakutty, MLA, reached the spot in a procession greeting the agitation against the toddy shop. A group of toddy tappers, who were also assembling near the toddy shop as part of their agitation demanding steps by the authorities to open the shop, turned towards the Congress activists and allegedly manhandled them.
The Congress activists alleged that the toddy tappers' union workers assaulted two Mahila Congress activists. The police reached there and persuaded them to leave the place to avert tension. The Congress activists, later, staged a sit-in in front of the Town Police Station here demanding action against the toddy tappers who manhandled the Mahila Congress activists.
The ongoing agitation by local residents and protests by the toddy tappers' unions against the agitation were a source of tension in the area. The local residents had launched the agitation on March 23 following the shifting of the toddy shop from an old rented building to a nearby building which is located in a residential area.
The toddy tappers' unions were demanding that the authorities take steps for the opening of the shop which had been shifted as per a government order.
