New Delhi: Haryana Congress chief Ashok Tanwar sustained injuries during a scuffle between his and Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s supporters and was admitted to a hospital where the party Vice-President Rahul Gandhi visited him.
A party leader said that supporters of former Haryana Chief Minister Hooda and Tanwar attacked each other with sticks over mounting of posters and banners of their respective leaders near Bhairon Mandir, while waiting for Gandhi’s ‘Kisan yatra’ to arrive there.
The incident has brought to the fore the differences between different factions of the party and is likely to have political repercussions.
The faction headed by Hooda is seeking the ouster of Tanwar as Pradesh Congress chief.
“Tanwar received injuries on his head and other parts of the body. He was taken to RML Hospital for treatment,” party sources said.
Hospital authorities, when contacted, said, “Tanwar has sustained injuries and was admitted in the ICU. He is also having bouts of vomiting.”
However, party sources said that he was later discharged from the ICU.
Gandhi’s ‘Deoria to Delhi Kisan yatra’ culminated today. He visited Tanwar after completing his yatra.
Police said the groups of supporters clashed near Bhairon temple in central Delhi around 5.30 pm, half an hour before Gandhi was due to arrive.
Police said that they intervened to stop the scuffle. “However, we haven’t received any police complaint from the party or from those who were injured,” said a senior police officer.
The RML authorities said that about 12-15 Congress workers, who had sustained minor injuries in the scuffle, were brought here and administered first-aid.
The Congress has taken a serious view of the incident and will take action against those partymen who were involved in the clash, said a senior party leader.
Besides Gandhi, many Congress leaders including Bhupinder Singh Hooda, his son Deepender Hooda, Motilal Vora, Digvijaya Singh, Janardhan Dwivedi visited the hospital to see Tanwar at RML, party sources said.
Asha Kumari, former AICC secretary in-charge of Haryana, who is now handling Punjab affairs of the party also visited Tanwar besides a number of sitting Haryana MLAs.