JAIPUR: Karnataka BJP MP
Tejasvi Surya was stopped in Rajasthan on Wednesday en route to riot-hit Karauli at the head of a convoy carrying 250-odd party members, triggering an hour-long stand-off that culminated in a police baton charge.
Surya, who is also the national president of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), was with BJP state president Satish Poonia when his car and the rest of the convoy were stopped along a stretch of the Hinduan-Karauli road around 2pm and requested to return.
Trouble started after Surya, Poonia and state BJYM chief Himanshu Sharma allegedly attempted to cross the police barricades, followed by party workers. Surya, who has a large following on social media, sent out an appeal through his Twitter handle for party workers to assemble in large numbers at the site, which immediately led to the size of the crowd almost trebling, the police said.
The party workers raised slogans against the Congress government and CM
Ashok Gehlot, accusing them of hatching a conspiracy against Hindus in Karauli, where communal rioting broke out on April 2.
Sensing trouble, the police detained Poonia,
Surya and Sharma along with 100 other party workers. They were released at Mahua with a warning to not enter Karauli, where partial curfew remains in force. tnn