MLC P.V.N. Madhav and several others were held by the police after activists belonging to the BJP and the CPI(M) traded charges and got physical here on Saturday.
Tension gripped the busy Jagadamba Junction when BJP and CPI(M) activists raised slogans. In the melee that followed, many were abused and manhandled. The police later picked up over 80 activists of the BJP, including Mr. Madhav, and let them off after sometime. Meanwhile, on receipt of complaints, the Maharanipeta Police registered separate cases.
Trouble sparked off when over 200 activists of the BJP raised slogans at the CPI(M) office after taking out a rally, to express solidarity with the Janarakshana Yatra flagged off by BJP national president Amit Shah in Kerala, from the GVMC Gandhi statue to the Saraswati Park.
Police said they were inquiring into the charges.
In their police complaint, CPI(M) State secretariat member Ch. Narsinga Rao and city president B. Ganga Rao alleged that without any provocation the BJP activists not only staged a protest at their office but also roughed up some of their activists.
“The BJP goons also tried to attack me with a helmet. I escaped narrowly as our party colleagues came to my rescue,” Mr. Narsinga Rao, who is the State president of CITU, told The Hindu .
During their return, the BJP members raised slogans against the CPI(M) for continuing ‘murder politics’ in Kerala and not taking any action against the perpetrators of the attacks due to support from the CPI(M)-led government there. The CPI(M) office is located close to the Saraswati Park.
Counter charge
When contacted, Mr. Madhav said they had taken permission for the rally as part of country-wide protests to express solidarity with their party in Kerala. Condemning their arrest, he said when they were raising slogans peacefully at the CPI(M) office, Mr. Narsinga Rao and others attacked them.
“Mr. Rao told us that if we wanted to protest we should oppose Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his policies and not dare to protest in front of their office,” Mr. Madhav said.
Police faulted
The MLC found fault with the police for detaining only the BJP activists and alleged that the CPI(M) was not able to stomach the rising popularity of the BJP after they secured nearly 15% of votes in the Kerala Assembly elections and one of their candidates won as an MLA.
After the Left parties formed the government, 12 BJP activists, including a Dalit, had been brutally killed at the behest of ruling party leaders in Kerala,he alleged.
