Gujarat Congress President Bharatsinh Solanki along with other party leaders and workers were detained today for taking out a rally here demanding release of jailed Patel quota agitation leaders, including its spearhead Hardik Patel and aides.
Though the police denied them permission to hold the rally, Congress leaders were adamant to go ahead with their 'Daman Pratikar Rally' and asked their workers to converge here at Sabarmati Ashram, from where, they were supposed to march towards the Collector's office to hand over a memorandum this afternoon.
According to local police, Congress workers had gathered at the Ashram. A large number of police force was deployed on the 2-km stretch between Ashram and Collector's office since morning to stop the Congress leaders and workers from holding the rally.
As soon as Bharatsinh Solanki along with other leaders such as Arjun Modhwadia, Siddharth Patel and Shaktisinh Gohil reached Ashram to lead the rally, police detained them and took them to police headquarters in Shahibaug.
"We have detained a total of 153 Congress workers and leaders including Solanki, as they tried to take out the rally without our permission. They were released later in the evening. No major untoward incident took place during the rally," said Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) of Zone 2 Mahendra Bagaria.
To avoid clashes after the detention of these leaders, police allowed some leaders to go to Collector's office to hand over their memorandum.
"We allowed only five Congress leaders to go till Collector's office, where they handed over their memorandum, after which the rally got dispersed," said Bagaria.
In the memorandum, Congress said that the Patel youth, who were behind the bars, were not terrorists and they should be released immediately.
"In the memorandum addressed to Chief Minister Anandiben Patel, we have condemned the atrocities meted out to Patel youth during the quota agitation and demanded that they must be released from jail, as they are wrongfully booked by the government for raising their voices," said state Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi.
Though the state government had recently announced to withdraw non-serious criminal cases against the Patel youth, serious cases like sedition slapped on Hardik Patel and his aides, have not been withdrawn yet.
