Chandigarh(IANS) : Several supporters of dissident Congress leader and former Haryana chief minister Bhajan Lal were injured Saturday when police cane charged them for blocking a national highway near Karnal town.
Leaders of the Lal camp claimed that Congress legislator Rakesh Kamboj was among those seriously injured in the cane charge. Kamboj and many others were taken away in an ambulance.
The clash between the police and Bhajan Lal supporters came just a day before a dissident rally being organised by Lal and his MP son Kuldeep Bishnoi. The rally is being held in Rohtak, the home town of Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Sunday.
Haryana director general of police R.S. Dalal said that nearly 150 people had blocked the busy National Highway No. 1 near Karnal town, 125 km from here, and were cane charged when they refused to move. He alleged that the mob pelted stones at the police, leading to action against them.
Lal supporters claimed that the police mercilessly beat them. They said they were heading towards the rally venue in Rohtak when they were stopped.
Bishnoi claimed that all preparations had been made for the Rohtak rally. “This will be the biggest turnout in Haryana in any rally,” Bishnoi, who was earlier this year suspended from the Congress for criticising party president Sonia Gandhi and Hooda, said.