BJP, AAP activists clash in Varanasi

Varanasi: A clash broke out between BJP and AAP supporters at the Lanka Chowk outside Banaras Hindu University where the saffron party staged a protest over the refusal of permission for Narendra Modi`s rally here.

The scuffle took place when some AAP supporters holding brooms came to the protest site raising slogans in favour of Arvind Kejriwal. Immediately, several BJP supporters tried to block their way by pushing them. Police and paramilitary forces soon swung into action and pacified both the groups and prevented the situation from escalating. After some time, AAP supporters also left the place. Earlier, the administration had deployed a large number of security forces at the Lanka Chowk where senior BJP leaders Arun Jaitley, Ananth Kumar and Amit Shah along with hundreds of supporters held a protest against the Election Commission and the Returning Officer who had denied permission to Modi for holding a public meeting at a venue of his choice here. The protest came to an end at around 2 pm but many of the supporters had still stayed back. Modi was yesterday denied permission for holding a public meeting at a venue of its choice here following which the party announced protests while cancelling all his programmes here today.