4 BJP members arrested, Sonowal attacks police

Two BJP leaders and as many workers were arrested on Tuesday by Assam police in connection with the clash outside Congress headquarters here.

Police arrested BJP leader Vijay Gupta from Lokopriyo Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport when he was on his way to New Delhi, while party spokesman Rupam Goswami and two party workers Diganta Kalita and Pranabjyoti Lahkar were taken into custody this morning.

Reacting to the arrests, Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal alleged that Assam police was acting as an agent of the Congress government in the state by arresting BJP leaders and harassing its workers in connection with the clash outside Congress headquarters Rajiv Bhavan on Monday.

“The arrests clearly prove that police are acting on behalf of Congress, which is highly condemnable,” Sonowal, who is also Assam BJP president, told reporters here.

The BJP had filed an FIR against the attack on its workers by Congressmen in the incident on Monday but no action has so far been taken on it, he claimed.

Congress, Sonowal said, has taken the “condemnable step of harassing our party workers with the help of the police.”