Tension prevailed in the city for some time on Sunday morning, when the cadres of the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) clashed over garlanding the statue of former Chief Minister K. Kamaraj on his birth anniversary.
The clash took place just before Union Minister of State for Finance and Shipping Pon Radhakrishnan came to garland the statue.
The Congress cadre, led by G. Jayaprakash, Salem urban district president, came to garland the leader’s statue and spotted the BJP flags all around the statue.
Opposing this, the Congress cadre said that none of the political parties had displayed their flags and urged the BJP men to remove the flags.
The BJP men said that the party flags were to receive Mr. Pon Radhakrishnan. This led to a quarrel between the cadres of both the parties. In the melee, someone hurled a stone towards the statue, which led to free for all. Both the partymen attacked each other.
The policemen intervened and separated both the groups. The Union Minister, who arrived soon, also pacified the BJP cadre.
A few cadres of both the parties suffered injuries and were treated in the hospitals.
Later, amid tight police security, Mr. Pon Radhakrishnan garlanded the statue.
In an informal chat with presspersons, the Union Minister said that he used to garland the statue of Kamaraj in every town and city he visited.
