Congress and BJP activists clash in Jharkhand

Hazaribagh (Jharkhand), Feb 16 (ANI): Party workers of the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) clashed during a BJP organised demonstration against price rise here on Monday.

The Congress workers chased the opposition party activists with canes as they were shouting anti-government slogans and were carrying effigies of Congress leaders including that of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Party President Sonia Gandhi.

The BJP workers accused the administration of conniving with the Congress workers, as they did not prevent the incident despite prior intimation about it.

"We took out a demonstration against United Progressive Alliance government for its failure to check prices of the essential goods. The ruffians brought by a Congress worker baton charged our workers. Some of them also had revolvers with them. When we informed the police about it they told us that they had already informed all their officials about it. Despite knowing it they did not take any preventive measure," said Shankar Gupta, president of Hazaribagh district of BJP

Annual Food price inflation was 17.9 percent on January 30, higher than 17.6 percent in the previous week, according to data released on Thursday.

India's wholesale price index rose 8.56 percent in January from a year earlier, driven by higher food prices, the government data showed on Monday. (ANI)