On Gujarat Congress MLA's Attack Charge, BJP's "Sympathy Stunt" Retort

Gujarat Congress MLA and tribal leader Anant Patel was injured after he was allegedly attacked by a local BJP functionary and his supporters in Navsari district, police said on Sunday.

The incident took place on Saturday evening and an FIR was registered at Khergam police station in the early hours of Sunday in which Anant Patel accused local BJP leader Babu Ahir, who is the district panchayat president, and his supporters of attacking him after being upset over a song sung in Patel's support at a garba event.

Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi condemned the attack on Anant Patel, who has been leading an agitation against the Centre's Par-Tapi-Narmada link project in Gujarat, and claimed it was a result of the "anger of the BJP government".

The BJP, however, raised questions about the attack and said there was a need to probe whether it was a "stunt to gain sympathy".

The Gujarat Assembly elections are due in December this year.

According to the FIR, Anant Patel, the legislator from Vansda in Navsari, was attacked by a group of around 50 people and his vehicle was damaged at Khergam when he was on his way to a meeting on Saturday evening.

Apart from Babu Ahir, the FIR named five other accused and a group of 40-45 people who were allegedly behind the attack.

In his complaint, Mr Patel alleged that he was attacked because the accused BJP leader was upset over a song sung in his support at a garba event.

The MLA claimed the accused persons approached his vehicle when it had stopped due to traffic and asked him to come out. When he refused, they broke the glass of the car to open the door.

The accused persons punched him several times and also hurled abuses, the FIR stated. Mr Patel suffered injuries over his right eye.

Leader of Opposition in the Gujarat Assembly Sukhram Rathva, former state Congress president Amit Chavda and party MLA Chandrika Baria visited Mr Patel at a private hospital in Vansda town of Navsari on Sunday.

Reacting to the incident, Rahul Gandhi in a tweet said, "The cowardly attack by the BJP on our MLA Anant Patel ji, who fought for the tribal society against the 'Par-Tapi River Link Project' in Gujarat, is condemnable. This is the anger of the BJP government. Every worker of the Congress party will fight till the last breath for the rights of the tribals."

Gujarat Minister of State for Home Harsh Sanghavi told reporters that, "Whether this is a stunt to gain sympathy is a matter of investigation and this will also be probed."

The police have registered the case under various Indian Penal Code sections including 143 (unlawful assembly), 147 and 148 (rioting), 324 (voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (intentional insult) and 506 (2) (criminal intimidation), and provisions of the Schedule Castes and Schedule Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)