Security beefed up at Cong, BJP headquarters in MP

Security was beefed up at the state headquarters of the BJP and Congress on Thursday amid ongoing political tension in Madhya Pradesh.

On Wednesday Congress workers staged a protest outside the BJP headquarters at Deendayal Parisar after their senior leader Digvijaya Singh was barred from meeting his party's rebel MLAs, who are staying at a resort in Bengaluru.

"We have increased the police deployment outside offices of the BJP and Congress. An additional force of 200 police personnel each has been deployed outside both the offices," Bhopal's deputy inspector general of police Irshad Bali told PTI.

Following the protest, the BJP claimed that Congress workers had vandalised its office and attacked some members with lathis, while the ruling party refuted the charge.

The police on Wednesday registered a case against eight identified and 50 unidentified Congress workers based on a complaint lodged by BJP district president Vikas Virani, a police officer said.

The accused were charged for rioting and other relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code, he added.

High drama unfolded on Wednesday morning when Digvijaya Singh staged a protest near the resort in Bengaluru where rebel Congress MLAs are staying, accusing the police of not allowing him to meet the legislators.

The senior Congress leader, who was detained by the police, accused the BJP of holding the MLAs "captive" and threatened to go on a "hunger strike".

The BJP has consistently denied holding the rebel Congress MLAs in captivity and claimed they are in the Karnataka capital on their own accord.

After former Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia quit the Congress, 22 MLAs of the ruling party, also submitted their resignations, pushing the 15-month-old Kamal Nath government to the brink of collapse.

Of these, the speaker has accepted the resignations of six MLAs.