Panaji: A ‘Gandhigiri’ bid by the Congress to placate protesting BJP workers awry on Friday after Goa BJP president Vinay Tendulkar allegedly flung a plate of samosas and flowers, triggering commotion.
An FIR and a counter FIR were registered at the Panaji police station after a street fight over the Rafale deal controversy.
Tendulkar has alleged that Congress workers assaulted and flung objects at his party workers. However, according to an FIR filed by state Congress women’s wing president Pratima Coutinho, the BJP workers assaulted women from her party during the commotion on Friday evening.
“At the time when the leaders approached us, we maintained calm and peacefully welcomed them and offered them refreshments and flowers. Seeing our gesture, BJP state president Vinay Tendulkar got furious and flung the ‘thali of samosas’, which was offered to him, at a Congress worker. Thereafter, the bouquet of flowers which was presented was also thrown away,” Coutinho said in her FIR at the Panaji police station.
The FIR filed against unnamed BJP workers has been registered under sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting), 323 (causing hurt), 504 (breach of peace), 509 (outraging modesty of women), 354 (criminal assault) of the Indian Penal Code.
In a counter FIR, BJP worker Kavita Kandolkar has alleged that Congress workers flung bottles, ‘samosas’ and wood pieces at BJP workers in a bid to provoke and assault them.
“As part of our nationwide campaign, we were peacefully protesting against the attack by the Congress on our Prime Minister and the central government over the Rafale issue. It was their workers who started attacking us. Coutinho even flung the bouquet at our workers in a bid to provoke them,” Tendulkar told reporters at a press conference held at the state BJP headquarters.