Opposition Congress leaders, including Leader of Opposition (LoP) Tika Ram Jully and state president Govind Singh Dotasra, on Wednesday courted arrest as police prevented them from marching to the ruling BJP’s state headquarters here to stage a demonstration.
The grand old party had planned to take out a march from the PCC office to the ruling party headquarters to stage a gherao in protest against the alleged “misuse of the Enforcement Directorate” against the Gandhi family in the National Herald case and other opposition leaders.
However, police stopped them as the march reached the Shaheed Smarak. This prompted the protesters to stage a dharna and raise slogans against the BJP-led governments at the Centre and in the state.
Besides LoP Jully and state chief Dotasra, several MLAs and prominent leaders, including former Minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas, MLAs Rafik Khan, Manish Yadav and Vidhyadhar Chaudhary, and prominent leader Vaibhav Gehlot, were also present.
The slogan-raising Congress cadres tried hard to scale barricades and breach the police blockade to move ahead.
However, the heavy deployment of police armed with water cannons prevented them from marching forward. After a deadlock lasting some time, the protesting leaders, including Jully, Dotasra, and about half a dozen MLAs, courted arrest.
Dotasra said, “I have courted arrest along with LoP Jully and hundreds of Congress leaders in protest against the BJP’s conspiracy against the Congress leadership.”
Protest marches and demonstrations were also held in some districts, including Sirohi and Chittorgarh.