Ruling party denies charge: BJP says stones pelted at state unit chief’s car, blames Cong

Later in the day, Bundi Police registered an FIR over the alleged incident, but no arrests were made yet.

Videos circulated by the BJP on social media show a crowd gathered around Poonia’s car, shouting slogans and displaying black flags. A voice from an unidentified person says stones are being pelted at the vehicle.

“I had gone to Kota today for a condolence meeting of a member of the erstwhile Kota royal family. I normally keep only 1-2 cars and use cavalcades only during events. Suddenly, without any reason, 200-300 people surrounded us. They tried to drag me out of the car and also roughed up my gunman. Even when the gunman threatened that he would open fire, they didn’t back down. I have never seen anything like this in my thirty years in politics,” Poonia told The Indian Express on Sunday.

Poonia alleged that those present in the protest were close to urban development and housing minister Shanti Dhariwal and named another Congress leader Rajendra Sankhla.

“The crowd was chanting slogans in favour of Shanti Dhariwal… People told me that people involved included Congress leader Rajendra Sankhla, who is close to Shanti Dhariwal. I don’t think they would have this courage unless they had the protection of the government. I called up the DGP who said that he will see…I even called up the leader of opposition and deputy leader of opposition. Had I got out of the car, they would have assaulted me. Somehow the driver managed to take the car away,” Poonia, who was unhurt in the incident, said.

When contacted by The Indian Express, Sankhla — who identified himself as a Congress member and a former NSUI district president of Kota — denied the allegations.

“We had gone to the Kota-Bundi border today to show black flags to Satish Poonia, who earlier in the day, during a press conference, had said that Congress is not even equal to the shoes of BJP. But we didn’t pelt stones nor attack the car. The allegations are absolutely untrue. We later helped the car to go past the crowd. If we didn’t want to let him go, he wouldn’t have been able to get out. Congress workers were angry because of his statement. We just showed him black flags and no violence took place,” Sankhla said.

State minister Dhariwal did not respond to requests for comment.

Poonia denied that the statement could have triggered the incident. Instead, he said, it was because has has led the BJP’s recent protests against the Congress-led Rajasthan government over REET paper leak and the alleged rape of a minor girl in Alwar.

“Such a reaction doesn’t happen because of a statement. The attack took place because the Congress is totally on back foot on REET question paper leak and Alwar rape case. This was an effort to scare us but we won’t be afraid,” the BJP state president said.

Bundi Police on Sunday evening registered an FIR, naming Sankhla among the accused, based on a complaint filed by BJP workers.

“An FIR has been registered under sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 341 (wrongful restraint), 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) of the IPC. So far no arrests have been made,” said sub-inspector Brajohan Meena of Talera police station in Bundi.