Ahead of M.B. Patil visit, Congress and BJP workers confront each other in Hubballi

The developments happened just few minutes before the visit of M.B. Patil to party office in Hubballi and the police had to detain some BJP leaders as a precautionary measure.

Congress and BJP workers confronted each other during the visit of KPCC Campaign Committee Chairman M.B. Patil to party office in Hubballi on Saturday and the Police had to detain some BJP leaders and workers as a precautionary measure.

The developments happened just few minutes before the visit of Mr. Patil to party office in Hubballi, who was to attend a party meeting as part of his state tour as chairman of KPCC campaign committee.

The BJP workers led by district unit president Sanjay Kapatkar, Shivu Menasinakai, Dattamurthy Kulkarni and others wanted to lay siege to the office of Congress party on Saturday to protest against the burning of Veer Savarkar’s posters allegedly by Congress workers during a protest in Dharwad on Friday.

As the BJP workers began their protest march on Karwar Road, the police prevented them from proceeding further. However, a few BJP leaders and workers managed to come near the Congress office on Karwar Road, enraging the Congress party workers who had gathered to welcome Mr. Patil.

Workers of both parties confronted each other and began sloganeering, forcing the Police to stop the groups from marching towards each other. At one point, there was an altercation between the workers of the two parties as well as between the police and the workers.

Meanwhile, some BJP workers tore the buntings and banners erected to welcome Mr. Patil, forcing the police to take several of the BJP workers into custody as a precautionary measure and bring the tense situation under control.

By the time Mr. Patil arrived at the party office, the situation had calmed down and the police had diverted normal traffic to alternate roads. The detained BJP workers were released later.