Scores of supporters of BJP leader Narottam Mishra staged a violent protest at Datia in Madhya Pradesh on Saturday, opposing the party leadership’s decision not to nominate him as its candidate for the upcoming Assembly by-election.
At least 10 police personnel, including the SP, the SDOP, and other officers, were injured in clashes between the police and the protesters.
The police had to resort to lobbing tear gas shells and carrying out a baton charge to bring the situation under control.
Police also detained some of the BJP workers.
The incident prompted a sharp reaction from the opposition Congress.
Former Congress Rajya Sabha Member Digvijaya Singh alleged that the police merely detained some junior-level workers. He urged the police to arrest the senior leader, who, according to him, instigated the violent protest.
On Friday, the BJP central leadership announced Ashutosh Tiwari as the party candidate for the upcoming Datia Assembly by-election.
Until then, Narottam Mishra was being considered the front-runner for the party’s candidate.
The announcement of Tiwari’s name dashed the expectations of former Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra.
Mishra had lost to Congress candidate Rajendra Bharti in the 2023 state assembly elections.
Ahead of the by-election, Mishra had even purchased the nomination form, believing he was certain to be named the BJP candidate.
He had also begun campaigning at his own level.
The by-poll was necessitated after a special MP/MLA court in New Delhi convicted sitting Congress MLA Rajendra Bharti on 2 April in a 28-year-old bank fraud case and sentenced him to three years’ imprisonment.