Over 185 Congress workers detained in bid to disrupt CM Raman Singh's event in Raigarh

Raigarh: As many as 185 Congress workers were taken into preventive custody when they tried to march toward the venue of Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh's programme in Raigarh while demanding release of 'pending' crop procurement bonus to farmers.Chhattisgarh Pradesh Congress Committee (CPCC) secretary Anil Agrawal and former MLA Padma Manhar were among those detained by the police. Congress workers were stopped at Shaheed Chowk when they tried to proceed toward the venue of the CM's event in other part of the city, a police official said, adding that the protestors wanted to lay siege to the venue.[caption id="attachment_4135901" align="alignleft" width="380"]

Representational image. AFP[/caption]"As many as 185 protesters, including 53 women, were detained and later released," he added. The CM was in the city to distribute paddy crop procurement bonus to farmers. Farmers are demanding minimum support price (MSP) against procurement of the crop. Raigarh district unit Congress chief Nagendra Negi accused the ruling BJP of ignoring the interest of farmers and "ditching" them by not providing bonus and the MSP against paddy procurement as promised by the saffron party in its pollmanifesto."The BJP is giving bonus to farmers only for the paddy procurement done in 2016-17," Negi said while demanding award of accumulated bonus of the last three years.