In a major embarrassment for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), two groups within the party clashed with each other in the presence of state water resources minister Girish Mahajan in Amalner , Jalgaon, on Wednesday.

The Jalgaon police has registered a case of rioting and unlawful assembly against the party’s district president Uday Wagh and his supporters.

The incident took place during a meeting for party candidate Unmesh Patil at Amalner in Jalgaon on Wednesday evening.

When the meeting was underway, supporters of Wagh came to the dais and thrashed party’s former MLA BS Patil, who was sitting with Mahajan. The workers also manhandled Mahajan as he tried to intervene when Patil was being beaten up by the Wagh supporters.

In a video clip shown by a Marathi news channel, Mahajan was also seen pushing the party workers. Mahajan said that he tried to pacify the party workers, but they did not want to listen to anybody.

“We have registered a case against Wagh and his seven supporters for rioting, unlawful assembly under various sections of the Indian Penal Code. The investigation is underway,” said Panjabrao Ugale, superitendent of Police, Jalgaon.

The clash erupted out of the resentment among Wagh supporters over the party’s decision to replace the candidate. The party had initially fielded MLC Smita Wagh as its candidate, but later replaced her with local MLA Unmesh Patil. Smita is the wife of Uday Wagh, whose supporters targeted Patil, reportedly holding him responsible for the replacement.

The unrest within the party’s district unit has been brewing for the past few days over the candidature.

The party did not re-nominate its sitting MP AT Patil, who then announced his revolt against party’s official candidate. He had accused Wagh of conspiracy against him.

First Published: Apr 11, 2019 00:21 IST