Ranchi: violent clashes broke out between BJP and JMM workers in Jharkhand state capital today.
The JMM workers were holding a protest against union minister Narendra Tomar by waiving black flags at his cavalcade when 300-odd stick weilding BJP workers confronted them.
The clash left five JMM people and two policemen seriously injured.
"The clash broke out after Tomar left the airport on his way to the BJP office. One police officer and a constable were also injured." Said Ranchi SP Anup Birthray.
As the clashes broke out, Narendra Tomar's cavalcade was held at Hinoo Chowk for a good 20 minutes.
The police arrived at the spot later on and freed Tomar's convoy that was on its way to Harmu.
The protest was apparently in response to the heckling of chief minister Hemant Soren, who was booed during Prime Minister Nerendra Modi's visit to Ranchi, allegedly by BJP cadre. The state's ruling party had announced after the incident that it would not allow any union minister into Jharkhand.
Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday invited Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda for tea at his official residence here.
The meeting between the two leaders came just three days after Hooda faced an embarrassing situation when he was jeered and booed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) supporters at an official function in Haryana's Kaithal town on Saturday in the presence of Modi.
Following the incident, Hooda had said that he would not share a public platform with the Prime Minister and Union Ministers if the same attitude of the BJP leaders and workers continued.
"Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi today. He had been invited by Prime Minister over a cup of tea," a spokesman of the Chief Minister's Office said in Chandigarh.
Emerging from the meeting, Hooda said: "I fully respect the constitutional post of the Prime Minister. We discussed such issues concerning Haryana as fall under the purview of the Central government."
Modi has come in for severe criticism from the Congress and other political quarters after non-BJP Chief Ministers were booed by the BJP supporters at official functions in Maharashtra, Haryana and Jharkhand.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, Haryana's Hooda and Jharkhand's Hemant Soren were booed by the BJP supporters in recent days at the Prime Minister's official functions.
Chavan had on Thursday refused to share the stage with the Prime Minister following the incident with Hooda.
