Youth Congress workers, police clash, several hurt

Shimla: Youth Congress workers and the police clashed outside the Himachal Pradesh Assembly on Friday leading to a walkout by the Congress from the House.

The Congress claimed a dozen of their youth workers suffered injuries. In the House, Himachal Pradesh chief minister Jai Ram Thakur said three police personnel were injured when the protesters pelted stones.

Shimla superintendent of police Omapati Jamwal said the exact number of injured persons was being ascertained.

Himachal Pradesh Congress president Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, talking to PTI outside the House, said the protesting Youth Congress workers wanted to submit a memorandum on “deteriorating law and order and increasing drug abuse” in the state but “the officials used water cannons and cane-charged them”.

“This is unacceptable in a democratic set up,” he said. The clash led to a heated exchange of words between the ruling BJP and the Opposition Congress in the House.