BJP's Vijay Jolly attacked in Nepal

Vijay Jolly, the BJP's overseas affairs convenor, was Thursday attacked by a mob here while returning after addressing a meeting of Nepal's ruling coalition partner CPN-UML.

The Bharatiya Janata Party had sent Jolly and two other leaders, Ajit Kumar and Saurabh Gupta, to attend the convention of the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist.

According to Nepali journalist Rishi Dhamala, chairman of the Reporters Club, Kathmandu, the BJP leader was attacked by CPN-UML cadres with water bottles.

"Fortunately he escaped but I was hit by a bottle. Later, I took him to a nearby police station and called a vehicle leave the area," Dhamala told IANS.

Police used batons to disperse the crowd to move Jolly and his colleagues from the area. It was not clear if Jolly was the intended target of the mob.

The violence erupted after thousands of CPN-UML supporters were kept out of the opening session.

They vandalized the entrance gate and and started a fire. Thousands shouted slogans against the party leadership and staged a protest against Nepal Home Minister Bam Dev Gautam, who belongs to the same party.

They accused police of high-handedness.

At the venue, Jolly read out a congratulatory message from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president and Home Minister Rajnath Singh.

Jolly said India would help Nepal to overcome its power crisis and that Nepal-India relations would blossom under Modi's leadership.

Rajnath Singh reiterated the BJP's commitment to promote "India-Nepal Friendship".

(Anil Giri can be contacted at girianil@gmail.com)