Uttarakhand Congress president apologises to state press club over scuffle with journalists

Dehradun: Uttarakhand Congress president Karan Mahara on Thursday offered a written apology to the Uttaranchal Press Club over a scuffle with journalists at the Police Lines here.

In the letter to Uttaranchal Press Club president Ajay Rana, Mahara said a "misunderstanding" led to the scuffle between journalists and party workers and blamed police for the "unfortunate" incident, which took place on Wednesday when a cricket match of the journalists was going on at the Police Lines stadium.

"I am sorry for what happened. It was due to a misunderstanding created by police. We were detained by police during a protest march and brought to the Police Lines. We were sitting at the steps shouting slogans as is usual. Our journalist friends were also perhaps not aware of our programme and thought we were protesting against them," Mahara said in the letter. "The opposition and the media are complimentary to each other," he said.

The Uttaranchal Press Club president alleged that Congress workers led by Mahara entered the stadium, shouted slogans, misbehaved and engaged in a scuffle with journalists during the match.

Rana said he repeatedly requested Mahara not to disturb the match.

However, the Congress leader ignored his requests and got into a scuffle with the journalists, he alleged.

Police later intervened and drove Mahara and the Congress workers out of the ground, Rana said.