The Congress today staged demonstrations and burnt effigies of Union Minister Giriraj Singh across Gujarat for his controversial remarks against Sonia Gandhi, which led to the detention of several party workers in the state.
Youth and women workers of the Congress protested against the minister in all the four major cities of Gujarat, Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Vadodara and Surat, with police detaining around 38 party members.
As many as 22 women Congress workers were briefly detained in the city for holding a demonstration in front of the Jilla Seva Sadan (district service centre) building at Lal Darwaja area here today, police sources said.
"We detained around 22 women workers, after they tried to burn Giriraj Singh's effigy in front of the Jilla Seva Sadan at Apna Bazaar circle near Karanj area here today," Karanj area police sub-inspector M D Patel said.
"The police detained the workers, after they shouted slogans against Giriraj. However, they could not burn the minister's effigy," Patel said, adding that all workers were released after a brief detention of around 45 minutes.
In Vadodara, the police detained five Youth Congress workers who tried to burn Giriraj Singh's effigy.
"The police detained five Youth Congress members at Fatehgunj area of the city after they tried to burn Giriraj Singh's effigy," Fetehgunj police inspector P G Patel said.
Similarly, the Rajkot police also detained eight women workers of the Congress for burning the effigy of the minister.
"We detained eight women workers after they burnt Giriraj Singh's effigy at Trikonbaugh area of the city," lady police inspector B D Akbari said, adding that all detained female workers were released later.
Meanwhile, Youth Congress workers in Surat city today took to the streets and burnt the effigy of Giriraj Singh.
Police Inspector D D Damor of Limbayat area of Surat city said the police detained three members of the youth wing of the Congress party, after they burnt the effigy of minister Giriraj Singh who kicked up a row with his remarks asking whether Congress would have accepted Sonia Gandhi's leadership had she not been "white skinned".
