BJP rally: Police briefly detains Hry Cong chief, several party workers

The Haryana Police today briefly detained state Congress chief Ashok Tanwar and several of his party's workers in view of a protest they had planned during BJP president Amit Shah's rally here.
They were detained for a brief period and were released after the rally ended, police said.
The Congress leader claimed that nearly 200 party workers were detained along with him.
"We were detained when we were holding protest at a site here which lies between the SP office and local bus stand. Police told us that they apprehend law and order problem and took us into custody. They released us after the rally ended," Tanwar said.

The Congress activists also tried to show black flags to participants in the BJP's bike rally and earlier in the day had released black balloons in the district to register their protest on various issues.
"We were protesting because the BJP government has failed on all fronts. They made tall promises to the people before the polls, but failed to fulfil these once they came to power.

"If we talk of Haryana, the law and order situation has crumbled here and incidents of rape, murder and loot have become a daily affair... We had said whenever a member of the top leadership of the BJP visits the state, we will confront them with these issues," Tanwar said.

Shah addressed the rally, in which Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, many of his ministerial colleagues, party legislators and workers reached the venue riding motorcycles.
"This was a flop rally of a flop government. As against tall claims made by the BJP of attracting over 2 lakh people for the event, not more than 12,000-15,000 people had come," Tanwar claimed.
"Moreover, personnel from central forces and the police in thousands were drawn from various parts of the state in the name of security. Was there any real need for such a massive deployment?" he asked.