Clashes, FIRs as row over ‘abuse’ at PM intensifies

The political row over alleged abuses hurled at Prime Minister Narendra Modi during Rahul Gandhi's “Voter Adhikar Yatra” in Bihar intensified on Friday as workers of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress clashed in Patna even as police said that two people, including the man who allegedly hurled the expletives, have been arrested.

- Subhash Pathak, Avinash Kumar and Arun Kumar

Meanwhile, a BJP functionary also filed a complaint against Gandhi and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav before the Court of Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM), Muzaffarpur, on the basis of the statement of the district convener of the party's law cell, Anil Kumar Singh.

Police said that a scuffle took place outside Sadaquat Ashram, the Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee (BPCC) headquarters in Patna after BJP workers, led by state ministers Nitin Nabin and Sanjay Saraogi, marched to the state Congress HQ and raised slogans against the incident.

The protest comes a day after a row erupted on Thursday over a 33-second video of the episode that was widely circulated on social media. HT could not independently verify the authenticity of the video that shows a crowded stage with someone hurling abuses targeted at PM Modi, while others jostled to snatch the mic from him.