Bengaluru: A BJP protest against Congress party’s demonstration in New Delhi took an unexpected turn in Bengaluru Wednesday after BP Harish, Harihar MLA, accidentally walked into a gathering of Congress workers outside the KPCC office, where he was pelted with eggs and allegedly manhandled before police rescued him.The drama unfolded during parallel protests by BJP and Congress over a sit-in outside Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s residence in Delhi led by Lok Sabha opposition leader Rahul Gandhi.Karnataka BJP, led by opposition leaders R Ashoka and Chalavadi Narayanaswamy, had assembled at Cantonment Railway Station for a march to the KPCC office on Queens Road. However, Harish was delayed after attending a legislature committee meeting and was separated from the contingent.Instead of joining the BJP march, his vehicle approached the KPCC office from the opposite end of Queens Road. By then, most BJP functionaries, including Ashoka, had already been detained by police and taken away in BMTC buses.“Instructions from the party were that all of us gather at Ashoka’s office in Vidhana Soudha and then proceed together,” Harish told reporters. “By the time I reached, the BJP contingent had reached Cantonment. Having missed the route, my driver took me in another direction to the KPCC office. While walking to the Congress office, I realised I was isolated. Congress workers noticed me and threw eggs at me.”The MLA ran into fenced premises opposite the KPCC office to escape the crowd before police intervened and escorted him to safety. Harish alleged that Congress workers also punched him in the back.Reacting to the incident, Ashoka accused Congress of encouraging violence. “Both CM DK Shivakumar and KPCC president BK Hariprasad have admitted their association with Kotwal Ramachandra. This shows that the state is run by the Kotwal gang,” he said.Ashoka also accused police of deliberately taking detained BJP members past the KPCC office where Congress workers were waiting with eggs and sticks.But Hariprasad defended his party workers, saying they reacted after BJP members attempted to enter the party office. “For a Congress worker, the party office is a temple. They do not like people from BJP trying to malign it by entering. It is just like Newton’s law: Eggs were thrown before they could throw eggs at them,” he said.BJP later submitted a complaint to MA Saleem, DG & IGP, seeking the arrest of those involved. “We will wait till late tonight. If the perpetrators are not arrested, then we will decide the next course of action,” Harish said.Meanwhile, Congress workers also staged a demonstration outside the BJP state headquarters in Malleswaram against the alleged lathi-charge on students in Delhi and the NEET paper leak issue. Police errected barricades and took protesters into preventive custody. The protest was in line with Congress central brass’ support to the students’ agitation led by Cockroach Janata Party in Delhi.
