Several West Bengal BJP workers and police personnel on Wednesday sustained injuries during clashes, which broke out between the two sides when the saffron party took out a rally in Kolkata to protest a spurt in dengue cases.
The BJP leadership claimed that the Mamata Banerjee government had failed to tackle the dengue menace and was trying to "hush up" the figures to avoid criticism.
At least 35 BJP leaders and workers were either arrested or detained during the clash and around 60 members of the saffron camp were taken to hospital with injuries, a senior police officer said.
Among those apprehended were BJP state general secretary Raju Banerjee, party leader Badsha Alam and Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) state unit president Debjit Sarkar, he said.
Actress Rimjhim Mitra, who recently joined the saffron camp, was also detained by police, the officer said.
The protest march, convened by the BJYM, was taken out from Central Avenue in the city and was scheduled to culminate at Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) headquarters in New Market area, with the gherao of the civic office.
Police, however, had put up a barricade near Chandni Chowk metro station to stop the rally.
According to police sources, the officers had initially tried to pacify the saffron party activists, asking them to go back. The BJP supporters, however, defied the diktat and moved ahead.
