Chandigarh: The police used water cannons on the Punjab BJP leaders and workers here on Thursday after they tried to take out a protest march against the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government and gherao state assembly which is currently in session.
Led by state party chief Ashwani Sharma, the BJP workers who took out the protest march against what they termed as deteriorating law and order situation in the state since AAP came to power about 10 months ago, were stopped by police near their party office in Sector 37 here. The BJP leaders alleged that divisive elements were again raising their heads and chief minister Bhagwant Mann-led AAP government had failed to check them. They also highlighted the February 23 incident in which radical preacher Amritpal Singh had stormed the Ajnala police station along with a large number of his supporters in Amritsar to protest against the arrest of one of his aides, while the police had not even registered any case in the context.
However, as the BJP workers tried to jump over the police barricades, the police used water cannons to stop them. Even as the conflict continued for over two hours, the police detained several BJP leaders and workers and took them away only to let them off later. Besides Sharma, BJP leaders Sunil Jakhar, Manpreet Singh Badal, Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi, and Raj Kumar Verka also took part in the protest.
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