More than 300 Congress leaders and workers, including Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) president Amit Chavda and the party's Gujarat unit incharge Rajiv Satav, were detained after they marched towards the State Assembly in Gandhinagar raising farmers' issues on Tuesday.
The Congress workers shouted slogans for waiver in farmers' loan and tried to gheravo the State Assembly complex. A large posse of policemen were on guard in the State Capital as the Congress had threatened to take siege of the Assembly House after the gathering of farmers and party workers at Satyagraha Chhavni nearby under the aegis of relatively sparsely attended ‘Khedut Aakrosh Rally’. The rally was ahead of the two-day monsoon session of the Assembly.
Addressing the Congress workers, Chavda said that the march towards Assembly raising the voice for farmers shouldn't stop even if the police resisted. Except for minor skirmishes and stone throwing, the march later on, however, turned out to be a damp squib as the Congress leaders walked in to police vans stationed getting detained without much protest.
Among the other senior Congressmen detained include former State party chief Arjun Modhvadia and legislator Harshad Ribadia.
However, the Gujarat Congress chief claimed that thousands of farmers apart from Congress workers were present at the rally. Satav said that with the farmers rally was just beginning there would be more such agitation across the State against the BJP-ruled Government in coming days.
Meanwhile, Congress legislator Virji Thumar was seen grappling with a lady police official and pushing her as she tried to nab him. On this Thumar said that he was unaware of pushing a lady cop. According to him, despite his MLA identity card being shown he was not allowed inside the Assembly.
On Congress party's protest Deputy CM Nitin Patel said that the Opposition party has done nothing for the farmers but fired upon them. It was under BJP rule that the Sardar Sarovar project progressed rapidly and farmers got their dues, Patel said.
The first day of the two-day Assembly session was adjourned after paying tribute to former Prime Minister the late Atal Bihari Vajpayee. On Wednesday, the Congress would raise the issues.