Complaint to be registered for burning Sonia Gandhi's effigy

VADODARA: District collector and returning officer Vinod Rao has asked the police to register a complaint against those who burnt Sonia Gandhi's effigy in Vadodara on late Tuesday night.

Talking to PTI today, Rao said, "The district returning office took initiative to lodge a complaint after Congress city unit president Narendra Rawat complained."

A group allegedly claiming to be Congress workers burnt Sonia Gandhi's effigy in the Navayard area near Sangam Crossroad late on Tuesday night, claiming that Rawat was forced to withdraw his candidature and injustice was done to him since he is a Dalit.

Rawat alleged that it was a rival political party's conspiracy to misguide voters in the name of Dalits, adding that none of the so called protesters visible in photographs, who later disappeared after burning Sonia Gandhi's effigy, were Congress workers.

Rawat reiterated that he had withdrawn from the contest on his own, in the larger interest of the Congress and hence any question of such a protest by Congress workers did not arise.

"Why did they run away when the media tried to ask them about their identity? None of these protesters are related to the Congress party in any manner," Rawat said, adding that the BJP has become nervous after a senior and well experienced leader like Madhusudan Mistry was fielded against Narendra Modi from Vadodara.