Banaskantha: Just few hours before the second phase of polling in Gujarat, Congress MLA from the Danta constituency Kanti Kharadi alleged that there was an attempt to murder him and he had to run 10 to 15 kilometres to save his life. The sitting MLA from Congress alleged that BJP was responsible for the attack.
The incident happened at 2 am on Sunday night when- the Congress MLA form the Scheduled Tribes reserved Danta seat in Banaskantha district in north Gujarat alleged that his vehicle was attacked by the anti-social elements where some BJP leaders were also present.
"I was going to my voters. BJP candidate Ladhu Parghi along with L K Barad and his brother Vadan ji were amongst those who attacked us. They were carrying weapons with them and attacked me with swords," Kanti Kharadi told the media.
"While our car was returning, some cars chased us. BJP candidate (from Danta constituency) Latu Parghi and two others came with weapons, with swords. We thought we must escape, we ran for 10-15 km and for 2 hours we were in the jungle," Congress candidate said.
"Our vehicles were going through Bamodara four-way, then the BJP candidate blocked our way after that we decided to return, then more people came and attacked us on that side," he added. "Whatever happened is unfortunate. I was going to my area as there's an election. I saw that the atmosphere was heated there so I decided to escape," he said.
Also read: WB: Five injured in TMC-BJP clash in Uttar Dinajpur's Dinhata
Posting a tweet, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi alleged, "Congress tribal leader and Danta Assembly candidate, Kantibhai Kharadi was brutally attacked by BJP goons and is now missing." Asserting further investigation Gandhi said, "They did so because a large number of people gathered in Danta in support of the Congress".
As the Congress leader went incommunicado the Local Crime Branch (LCB) and police teams, including the district police chief, set out to trace Kharadi. Both the mobile phones of the Congress MLA were switched off, adding to the challenges of contacting the missing leader. After four hours of toiling, the police from Sandhusi village in Danta taluk were able to locate the Congress MLA. Speaking about the assault.
Vadgam MLA Jignesh Mevani termed the attack as a pre-planned conspiracy. He alleged that the BJP is destroying the principles of the constitution. Congress state president Jagdish Thakor in a media interaction said that he had a talk with Kharadi over the phone and reiterated that the Danta BJP candidate is behind the attacks. Mevani also shared the letter by Kanta Kharadi written to the Election Commission regarding the apprehension of the attack.
Danta is a seat reserved for Scheduled Tribe communities and Kharadi – the two time sitting MLA from Congress and Ladhubhai Parghi from BJP are in the fray for the seat. The seat goes for polls Monday along with 92 other state constituencies in the second and final phase.
However, there was no reaction from the BJP party so far.
