A team of Tarun Dal cadres, including one Praveen Rai, had gone to the party´s district office in Narayanghat at 4:15 in the afternoon and confronted Koirala for trying to take back the strike. [break]
Praveen, kid brother of Pramish who was arrested along with Paudel, then kicked Koirala. Five persons including Praveen Acharya, Kumar Karki, Sundar Paudel, Santosh Rai, Umesh Rai and Saraswati Kandel were injured in the ensuing scuffle.
Many party leaders expressed reservations over Koirala´s decision to call the police to the office to arrest the assailants, arguing that the issue should be resolved within the party. The leaders even managed to help two persons escape.
Tarun Dal cadres claimed that they attacked Koirala only after he got physical. “The party chairman has also manhandled cadres and he should also face action,” argued Binu Paudel, an NC cadre. The party office also suffered some material damage during the scuffle.
There have already been clear divisions in Chitwan Congress over the case of Paudel who has been arrested for shooting dead Youth Association of Nepal (YAN) cadre Sanjaya Lama on August 27. The district-level leaders were in a meeting till late evening to resolve the issue.
The Tarun Dal cadres had called for Chitwan banda in the morning claiming that its chairman Paudel was framed in the case. Chitwan NC, which had already decided not to support the strike as per the seven-party agreement to not politicize the issue, withdrew the strike even as leaders including former minister Sabitri Bogati and Thakur Kumari Paudel were at Pulchowk to support the strike.
Seven Tarun Dal cadres were also injured in scuffles with the family of victim Sanjaya Lama in Pulchowk. Large numbers of security personnel were mobilized in the district to avert any mishap.
Tarun Dal Chairman Paudel, Pramesh Rai, Sajan Gurung and Raju Gurung have already been arrested after complaint by Lama´s father Dil Bahadur, while others are still absconding.
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