High drama at Krishi Bhawan after Trinamool delegation dharna; detained by police, claims party

New Delhi, Oct 3 (IANS) Trinamool Congress MPs Abhishek Banerjee and Derek O'Brien were allegedly detained by Delhi Police as they sat on dharna at the Krishi Bhawan here when denied meeting by Minister of State for Rural Development Sadhvi Niranjan on Tuesday.

In a post on X, Trinamool Rajya Sabha member Saket Gokhale said: "TMC MPs and Bengal Government Ministers led by Abhishek Banerjee have just now been manhandled and mercilessly dragged from the Mininstry of Rural Development by Delhi Police and detained."

He said that this also includes four poor MGNREGA workers from Bengal who had come to place their grievance before the Minister.

"After inviting us and keeping us waiting for three hours, MoS Sadhvi Niranjan quietly slipped out of her office without a meeting. When we protested, Delhi Police, CISF, and RAF manhandled the entire delegation and everyone is now under detention. What sort of fear is this (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi and (Union Home Minister Amit) Shah?" Gokhale said.

Meanwhile, according to Trinamool leaders at least 30 party MPs and 10 Bengal ministers were made to wait for three hours. After the Union Minister did not meet the delegation, the Trinamool leaders sat on dharna in the Ministry office.

In a video statement, Trinamool said: "The insulting treatment of our delegation, led by Abhishek Banerjee at Krishi Bhawan today, is a glaring example of the arrogance and high-handedness of BJP. Our leaders arrived at the appointed time of 6 PM to meet MoS Sadhvi Niranjan only to be subjected to an outrageous 90-minute wait following which they were informed that an audience was not possible.

"Let it be known that our National General secretary Abhishek Banerjee, and our leaders will not budge from Krishi Bhawan until the Minister acknowledges the blatant disrespect and meets with our delegation," it added.

Meanwhile, many police officials rushed th Krishi Bhawan to control the situation. On Tuesday afternoon, Abhishek Banerjee led the second day protest of the party leaders and workers at Jantar Mantar demanding the funds of the state government of the MGNREGA and other schemes. In the evening they marched from Jantar Mantar to Krishi Bhawan for the meeting.

On Monday, the party had staged a protest at Rajghat. On Monday too, party leaders and workers were allegedly manhandled by the police.