Jaipur, Aug 2 : The BJP on Tuesday organised a huge demonstration here against the state government, which turned violent as protesters clashed with the police, leaving over a dozen workers injured.
After a meeting at the state BJP office, party leaders and workers sought to march to lay siege to the Secretariat.
Police chased away the protesters at the Statue Circle using water cannons and some leaders clashed with the police. Over a dozen workers were injured in the protest and were taken to different hospitals for treatment.
State President C.P. Joshi, Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Leader of Opposition Rajendra Rathore, Deputy Leader of Opposition Satish Poonia, MP Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, MP Sumedhanand and many big BJP leaders courted arrest in the demonstration.
However, former CM Vasundhara Raje was not present in the protest which left many eyebrows raised as BJP national President J.P. Nadda, during his recent visit, had asked all workers to stay united during protests.
Before the secretariat gherao, a meeting was organised outside the state BJP office, where several of the top leaders addressed the workers.
BJP claimed that lakhs of people from all over the state came to Jaipur to participate in this gherao programme and PM Narendra Modi also supported it.
Questioning the silence of Chief Minister Gehlot on the “red diary” matter, Joshi sought to know what was in it that “as soon as its name comes, you remove that minister from the post”. He said that public is demanding an answer.
Addressing the gathering, state in-charge and BJP national general secretary Arun Singh said that people reached Jaipur today to lay siege to the secretariat with a resolve to overthrow the “anti-people” Gehlot government and termed the agitation “historic”. (IANS)