Raipur (Chhattisgarh) [India], March 16 : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers on Wednesday staged a massive agitation in front of the Chhattisgarh Assembly in Raipur demanding houses for the poor under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY).
BJP, the main opposition party in the state, alleged that the state government is depriving the poor of houses under the PMAY.
The police used water cannons and fire tear gas shells to disperse the BJP workers and also detained some protestors.
"As many as 80 BJP leaders, including the president of the Chhattisgarh unit Arun Sao, former minister and BJP MLA Brijmohan Agrawal, former minister Kedar Kashyap and others, were arrested during the protest. However, they were released later," said police.
While the opposition leaders were accusing police of assaulting the party workers, police stated that their 15 personnel suffered injuries during the agitation.
According to the police, after addressing the public meeting at Pirda in Raipur, the mammoth gathering, which included BJP workers as well as beneficiaries, led by senior leaders marched ahead to gherao the Chhattisgarh Assembly.
Amid the deployment of a heavy posse of police personnel equipped with anti-riot gear, the protestors broke five barricades and reached Vidhan Sabha Chowk wherein police personnel arrested the agitators, as informed by the police.
Reportedly, as a preventive measure and to avert any untoward incident, police used water cannons and also lobbed tear gas shells to disperse the sea of agitators at barricade number-4. Daring the water cannons and tear gas shells, the protesters managed to break the fourth barricade and reach the Vidhan Sabha Chowk. Meanwhile, the protestors and police personnel entered into an exchange of heated words.
"A total of 80 persons were arrested after the protest and they were released later. Around 15 police personnel suffered injuries during the duty of maintaining law and order," said Additional Superintendent of Police (City) Abhishek Maheshwari.
Dubbing the Congress government in Chhattisgarh as anti-people, Arun Sao, BJP state president alleged that the state government bid to suppress the protest through any means. "By using water cannons, lobbing teargas shells and resorting to lathi-charge, an attempt was made to crush the agitation but failed to break our spirits as we succeeded in reaching the Vidhan Sabha," Sao added.
Calling the protest a successful event, Sao said the party will continuously fight to protect the interest of the people.
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