Congress workers protest outside MP BJP office; FIR filed

Police on Wednesday filed an FIR against 58 people for allegedly engaging in rioting and criminal intimidation during a protest staged by the Congress outside the Madhya Pradesh BJP office here after their senior leader Digvijaya Singh was barred from meeting his party's rebel MLAs in Bengaluru.

The BJP claimed protesters hurled stones at its office and attacked its members with lathis, a charge refuted by the ruling Congress.

We have registered an FIR againstRahul Rathore among eight unidentified persons and 50 unidentified persons on the complaint of BJP district president Vikas Virani," Habibganj area City Superintendent of Police (CSP) Bhupendra Singh told PTI.

He said the accused were charged under IPC sections 147 (rioting), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 506 (criminal intimidation).

Efforts were on to apprehend them, the police officer said.

Earlier, the BJP claimed protesters hurled stones at its office and attacked its members with lathis, a charge refuted by the Congress whose government in the state is facing crisis after 22 party MLAs rebelled and resigned.

Some of the protesters were detained, but no one was hurt during the demonstration, police sources said.

"The Congress government's exit is imminent in Madhya Pradesh, which is why they attacked our office. We were sitting quietly when protesters hurled stones and rained lathis on us,' BJP state spokesman Rahul Kothari alleged.

Refuting Kothari's claims, state Congress spokesman Bhupendra Gupta said his party workers did go there (BJP office), but were detained by the police.

"They went to protest against the BJP-led Karnataka government for not allowing our leader Digvijaya to meet our MLAs in Bengaluru,' he said.

The BJP is cooking up stories and creating drama over a peaceful protest, Gupta alleged.

Instead of levelling baseless allegations, they (the BJP) should show the person who was hurt in the peaceful protest, he added.

Meanwhile, inspector Rakesh Shrivastava of the Habibganj police station said no one was hurt during the protest and the police had not received any report of violence.

High drama unfolded on Wednesday morning when Singh staged a protest near the resort in Bengaluru where rebel Congress MLAs are staying, accusing the police of not allowing him to meet the legislators.

The senior Congress leader, who was detained by the police, accused the BJP of holding the MLAs captive and threatened to go on a 'hunger strike'.

The BJP has consistently denied holding the rebel Congress MLAs in captivity and claimed they are in the Karnataka capital on their own accord.

After former Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia quit the Congress, 22 MLAs of the ruling party, also submitted their resignations, pushing the 15-month-old Kamal Nath government to the brink of collapse.

Of these, the speaker has accepted the resignations of six MLAs.