Ghaziabad: Hundreds of workers from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and protesting farmers camping at UP Gate protest site in Ghaziabad briefly clashed on Wednesday afternoon, police said. The incident took place when the farmers, who were holding their protest on one side of the Delhi Meerut Expressway (DME) objected to a gathering of local BJP workers on the opposite lane to welcome a party leader.“They (BJP) were on the other side of the DME and the farmers objected to the gathering. We came to know about 10-15 minutes earlier that the BJP workers had gathered to welcome their leader. We rushed to the spot and controlled the situation,” said Gyanendra Kumar Singh, superintendent of police (city 2). Singh said both sides intend to file complaints against each other.

BJP workers claim they had gathered near the starting point of the Hindon elevated road connecting to the expressway to welcome AmitValmiki, the party’s newly-appointed secretary who was arriving from Delhi.

“There were about 300-400 workers including 20-25 women...We were on the other side of the expressway (Delhi-Ghaziabad carriageway) near the starting point of the Hindon elevated road. The farmers were on the other side in their camps. Suddenly, hundreds of them came to our side by jumping the central verge and attacked us,” said Sanjeev Sharma, city president of the BJP’s Ghaziabad unit.