A day after the Congress wrested the mayoral seat from the BJP in the just-concluded Haridwar Municipal Corporation election, a major clash was averted on Thursday after the supporters of the two parties came face to face during rallies taken out by them.
Police claimed that their timely intervention had stopped things from erupting into violence.
Tension ran high as the two victory rallies-one led by the newly elected mayor Anita Sharma and BJP councillor Rajeev Sharma- confronted each other near Laltarao bridge on the day.
The situation turned tense when the two rallies with activists from both yelling slogans against each other came nearly face to face. Police said that they had stepped into the scene promptly as the possibility of a confrontation was high.
The Congress leader and former councillor Ashok Sharma who is also the husband of the newly elected mayor Anita Sharma alleged that the saffron camp was fuming as all its efforts to lure the voters by unfair means had come a cropper in the face of the people’s determination to elect a Congress mayor.
“However, we are not for confrontation. We would seek cooperation from the chief minister in the interest of the city. We are resolved to make Haridwar a corruption- free and drug- free city. To meet the expectation of the people who have elected us to run the corporation, we are ready to go any extent. We need the support of the state government and the chief minister, in particular,” he said.