The convoy of Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh and Madhya Pradesh’s Leader of Opposition Ajay Singh was gheraoed in Kukshi in Dhar district on Friday night. Windowpanes and windshields were damaged and the vehicles were dented, allegedly by workers of the BJP and its associates.
The Congress leaders were heading from Alirajpur on the Gujarat border to Bhopal by road, after an election rally. At Kukshi town the convoy was stopped by men waving black flags and chanting slogans. “They surrounded the cars and struck them with flag poles. We soon cleared the route and left. While leaving, brick pieces were thrown at Mr. Ajay Singh’s car which got damaged,” Kukshi Thana Incharge SP Sandhu, who was seated in the first vehicle, told The Hindu.
The convoy had four police vehicles and two vehicles of the leaders. A Congress car drove ahead while at least seven local Congress leaders’vehicles followed it, he added. No Congressmen were hurt and policemen received mild bruises. “An FIR has been filed naming 21 persons of whom the main accused is Ajay Daswanthi, a mandal president of the BJP,” Dhar Superintendent of Police BS Chauhan told this paper.
The Congress called a bandh in Dhar and organised protests in all district headquarters on Saturday. Effigies of Chief Minister Shivraj Chouhan were burnt and several middle ranking leaders were arrested and later released on bail.
“The BJP is scared and feels it cannot form the government again. It’s misdeeds have been exposed and people are speaking out. Hence they are trying to threaten, attack and use fascist tactics that are characteristic of the BJP and the RSS,” Digvijaya Singh said.
Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee, its president Kantilal Bhuria’s son Vikrant and Mr. Ajay Singh declared “war” on their facebook pages. Mr, Digvijay Singh, however, tweeted asking partymen “not to resort to violence.”
