Dramatic clash of Congress workers in Rahul Gandhi’s presence in Bihar

PATNA: Factionalism in Bihar Congress was once again seen as two groups of party workers clashed at the Congress headquarters in Patna where leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, was interacting with the new district unit presidents and workers on Monday after joining the ‘palayan roko, naukri do' padyatra in Begusarai and addressing the ‘Samvidhan Suraksha Sammelan' in the state capital. Rahul had to cut short his meeting and return to Delhi.
Sources said a supporter of former state Congress president Akhilesh Prasad Singh was beaten up by some other workers. Congress workers of the other faction chased him and beat him up. It is alleged that they were supporters of former Riga MLA Amit Kumar ‘Tunna'.
Akhilesh was replaced by a dalit face, Rajesh Kumar, as the state Congress president last month.
Sources said some party workers had an argument during the meeting. An angry Akhilesh walked out of the meeting in the middle. His supporter Ravi Ranjan was following him, when one Asad, who is said to be associated with Youth Congress, and former MLA Tunna started shouting "chor-chor" slogans.
When Ravi Ranjan protested, he was chased. Tunna started beating him up with kicks and punches. Akhilesh intervened and rescued him.
Later, Ravi Ranjan alleged that he is a Bhumihar by caste and the others were Rajput. He said a conspiracy was being hatched in the party but as long as his leader was there, they would oppose hooliganism.
Interestingly, outlining the role of Congress in Bihar, Rahul told the party workers to unite. "If we want to perform well in the elections, all the Congress workers will have to prepare strongly and coordinate with people of all castes and religions. Congress has to make every incident in the state an issue and protest. We have to remain active at booth level. Those who do not work will have no place in the party," he told the party workers.