On Saturday (October 8), Congress MLA Anant Patel alleged that his convoy was attacked by BJP workers when he was en route to meet the sarpanch of Khergam town in the Navsari district of Gujarat.
As per reports, Patel claimed that a mob of around 50 BJP workers led by Navsari district panchayat president Bhikhubhai Ahir orchestrated the attack on him. While speaking to Indian Express, he alleged, “BJP leader Bhikhubhai Ahir conspired the attack on us after coming to know about my visit to Khergam.”
“He had spread information on different social media groups and invited people to gather at the spot and informed them to teach us a lesson,” the Congress leader had asserted.
Patel’s story was further amplified by Congress scion Rahul Gandhi on Twitter. “The cowardly attack by the BJP on our MLA Anant Patel, who fought for the tribals against the ‘Par-Tapi River Link Project’ in Gujarat, is condemnable,” Gandhi had said.
“This is the anger of the BJP government. Every worker of the Congress party will fight till the last breath for the rights of the tribal community,” he continued.
After the pictures of an ‘injured’ Anant Patel went viral on social media, scores of Congress workers reached Khergam and set fire to the cement steel shop of BJP leader Bhikhubhai Ahir. They also stopped firefighters from dousing the fire.
BJP responds to the allegations
While speaking about the ‘attack’ on Anant Patel, Gujarat BJP Chief CR Patil remarked that the Congress leader was doing drama to stir sympathy ahead of the assembly elections in the State.
“There has been no attack on Anant Patel. He himself has created this drama and tried to get sympathy. His supporters burned a shop of our district panchayat president Bhikhubhai Ahir, they torched houses and damaged furniture and caused huge losses,” Patil added.
He emphasised, “Such serious offence would result in seven years imprisonment, and police could even do firing (to control such a violent mob). Forget firing, police didn’t even lathicharge or lob tear gas shells.”
The State BJP chief also accused Anant Patel of misleading the tribal community about the Par-Tapi River Link Project, which has already been set aside by the BJP government.