Another snap in 'Bharat Jodo Yatra': Cong workers in Kerala 'beat up' shopkeeper for not paying Rs 2K

Kollam, Sep 16: While the ambitious Bharat Jodo Yatra has been quite eventful for the Congress, the massive mass contact programme has also been dragged into several controversies along the way.

On Friday, a vegetable shop owner was allegedly beaten up by Congress party workers for refusing to contribute to a fund collection campaign has come to the fore.

According to the report, a group of Congress workers asked a vegetable vendor to give Rs 2,000 as a donation for the yatra. However, the vendor said he could only give Rs 500. This reportedly led to a scuffle between the two. The Congress workers created a chaos at the shop, in which the vegetable weighing machine of the shop was reportedly damaged.

"A group of Congress workers reached the shop and asked for donations for 'Bharat Jodo Yatra'. I gave Rs 500 but they demanded Rs 2000. They damaged weighing machines, and threw away vegetables," said S Fawaz, the shop owner.

Meanwhile, Kerala Congress state President K Sudhakaran suspended 3 party workers involved in allegedly threatening a vegetable shop owner for not paying Rs 2000 in fund collection for 'Bharat Jodo Yatra'.

Rahul Gandhi on Friday resumed his party's Bharat Jodo yatra, a 150-day-long foot march, after a day's rest from Polayathodu in Kollam district of Kerala.

The foot march was launched from Kanyakumari in neighbouring Tamil Nadu on September 7 and will cover 12 states and two Union territories.