The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Sunday (March 6) alleged that BJP "goons" attacked the convoy of its senior leader and Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain.
The Delhi unit of the BJP, however, rejected the charge. The party said residents of the Chhawla area in Delhi's South-West district had protested against the new liquor policy of the Arvind Kejriwal government.
In a series of tweets, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) alleged that the Delhi unit of the BJP deployed its "hooligans" to attack Jain's convoy as it realised that it is going to lose the upcoming civic body polls.
"BJP GOONS ATTACK DELHI MINISTER @SatyendarJain's CONVOY! BJP is losing MCD elections, hence they are down to what they know best - VIOLENCE!," AAP tweeted.
On the microblogging site, the party also posted a video footage of the alleged attack.
"This is the BJP. It's the party of hooligans and ruffians. When they are losing, they show their position. People will tell them their position," Delhi Chief Minister and AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal said in a Hindi tweet.
Party sources said the incident took place at Goyla Dairy-Najafgarh drain culvert around 12 noon.
"There was no goondaism against Minister Satyendar Jain, only local residents of the Chhawla area protested against the new liquor policy of the Kejriwal government," Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said in a statement.
"It is really sad that the Aam Aadmi Party, which was born out of a agitational movement today cannot tolerate a people's protest," he added.
Delhi BJP media relations head Harish Khurana also hit out at AAP and condemned Kejriwal for his remarks.
"The kind of words that Arvind Kejriwalji has used that they were BJP goons and they should be shown their position, the BJP condemns it. Arvind Kejriwal Saheb you should know that they were not from the BJP. They were locals protesting against your excise policy. You are playing a very cheap politics," he said in a video message.
AAP's chief spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj termed the incident as disgraceful and blamed the BJP for the incident.
"This is so disgraceful. The fear of defeat is haunting the BJP. What has been done with @SatyendarJain, what drama would have happened had it had been done with the prime minister," he asked in a tweet.
A senior police officer said when the minister was passing through Najafgarh, some people climbed onto the bonnet of his vehicle and protested against him.
"His vehicle had to be halted due to protest by some locals over alleged issues of governance etc, the officer said. A team of police reached the spot immediately as soon as information about the incident was received," the officer said.
"Within 10-15 minutes, the way was cleared and he went peacefully without any further disturbance on his way ahead," the officer added. Police said no complaint has been received so far.
"If any complaint is received, legal action will be taken accordingly," an officer said.
In a statement later, the Delhi Police said the health minister had visited Goyala Vihar in the Chhawla police station area in connection with inauguration of a sewer line.
"For this, adequate staff were deployed at PS level, although there was no intimation of this programme," the police said.
After inauguration of the sewer line, police said the minister left the venue and crossed the Goyala Dairy drain towards Dwarka where some protesters raised slogans and "tried to stop his car".
"Staff from the nearby police picket reached there and the protesters were removed immediately, and the minister left the spot," police added.
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