Ahmedabad: The Gujarat unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) staged a sit-in protest outside the Congress headquarters, Rajiv Gandhi Bhavan, in Ahmedabad on Wednesday, hours after the Congress held demonstrations over the alleged NEET paper leak and the demand for the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
Gujarat BJP president Jagdish Vishwakarma led the protest outside Rajiv Gandhi Bhavan, where around 200 to 300 BJP workers gathered. Protesters raised slogans including “Rahul Gandhi, apologise”, as the party accused the Congress of targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s residence during yesterday’s protest in New Delhi.
Security was significantly tightened around the Congress office ahead of the BJP programme. Nearly 2,000 police personnel were deployed to prevent any confrontation between workers of the two parties.
Senior police officers, including around 10 Deputy Commissioners of Police and two Joint Commissioners of Police, Sharad Singhal and Neeraj Budgujar, were present to supervise the security arrangements.
Barricades remained in place around Rajiv Gandhi Bhavan, with police maintaining a heavy presence throughout the protest.
The BJP demonstration followed a tense morning outside the same premises, where the Congress organised a sit-in and protest march over the alleged NEET paper leak.
The march was stopped by police shortly after leaving Rajiv Gandhi Bhavan, leading to a scuffle between protesters and security personnel.
Some Congress workers climbed onto police vehicles during the confrontation, after which police detained state Congress president Amit Chavda, MLA Imran Khedawala and around 100 Congress leaders and workers, including women protesters.
The Congress protest was part of a wider political campaign launched after Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi and several opposition leaders demonstrated outside Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s residence in New Delhi on Tuesday afternoon over the NEET controversy and their demand for the Union Education Minister’s resignation.
Delhi Police detained the opposition leaders during the protest before releasing them later.
(IANS)
