In a bid to exert pressure on Chhattisgarh CM Raman Singh and his four Cabinet colleagues in election year, hundreds of Congress protesters fought running street battles with cops on Thursday in heart of Raipur city.
Police fired water cannons and used batons to stall Congress protesters heading to the Chief Minister Raman Singh’s official residence to lay seize.
The Congress protest was a part of a follow-up action of a CD which the party released recently claiming that Raman Singh and his four cabinet colleagues took cash to bail out scamsters of Indira Priyadarshini Mahila Nagrik Sahakari Bank.
The ‘scam’ broke out in early 2007 in which roughly 25,000 poor account holders were duped by top bank officials. The Congress is seeking a CBI inquiry and resignation of the alleged pay off beneficiaries while the BJP is terming it ‘a purely political stunt in election year’.
The Congress cadres and police came to blows at Shashtri Chowk when protesters defied police warnings and tried to jump over police barricades to move towards the CM’s House. Police used water cannons and mild baton charge to bring situation under control.
Congress claimed that about its two dozen workers suffered injuries in the police action and 11,870 were arrested. Congress said that its ‘gherao to CM House’ was highly successful while the BJP termed it a complete failure. Notably, the Ajit Jogi-led group kept out from the Congress ‘gherao movement’ which once again proved that party has been seriously mired into factions and rift.
Before heading towards CM house, the party workers first gathered at the Gandhi Chowk ground for a public meeting which was addressed by Congress national general secretary and party in-charge for Chhattisgarh affairs BK Hariprasad.
Union Minister of State and Congress State working president Charandas Mahant and leader of the Opposition Ravindra Choubey also addressed the party cadres.
Hariprasad said in his speech that the then Manager of the Indira Priyadarshini Co-operative Bank Umesh Sinha in a CD pertaining to Narco test stated that the alleged payments amounting to Rs 1 crore was paid to Chief Minister Raman Singh and other ministers.
He said that the truth behind the alleged CD cannot be kept suppressed for long. Hariprasad demanded that the case must be investigated and made public.
Mahant while addressing the party cadres, remarked, RsRsthe Congress party demands that if it is being alleged that the CD was fake then a CBI inquiry into it should be ordered or the Chief Minister should resign from his post’’.