BJP workers quit party over lathicharge of protesting seers

Irked over the alleged lathi-charge on seers and others over immersion of idols in the Ganga, a group of agitated BJP workers handed over their resignation to the state unit chief Laxmikant Bajpai today, but took it back after being assured of finding a solution to the issue.
The alleged lathicharge occurred when members of 'Sri Kashi Maratha Ganesha Utsav Samiti' and other religious outfits had staged a dharna here from September 21 to 23 against the ban on idol immersion in Ganga.
The ban was ordered by Allahabad High Court to curb polluting of the river. The imposition was relaxed, especially for Varanasi for a year due to its geographical area. The relaxation ended this year.

Police allegedly lathi-charged seers and common people who were protesting, after which the dharna was called off.
Swami Avimukteshwarananda, disciple of Dwarka Shankaracharya Swami Swaroopananda, along with dozens of his supporters and another seer Mahant Balak Das, who were participating in the dharna, were injured in the incident.
Around 300 party workers, including women from rural belt, led by party's district unit general secretary Ramesh Babu Satya and Rajan Yadav handed over their resignation letter to Bajpai at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's parliamentary office here at Ravindrapuri.

However, the workers took back the resignation after Bajpai held talks with them and also asked them to come to Lucknow to further discuss the issue and find a solution, BJP activist said.

Meanwhile, 10 people including the Maratha Ganesha Utsav Samiti's president Santosh Patil, who were arrested by police and sent jail on Wednesday were today released on bail by the court of district judge here.
Also the magisterial probe into the incident began here with ADM, Ghazipur, Murlidhar Mishra, who has been entrusted with the probe, reaching Varanasi today. He will submit his report within a months time.