Protests by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supporters outside the BJP office here over the detention of party chief Arvind Kejriwal in Gujarat turned ugly when BJP activists allegedly pelted stones at them.
AAP leader Shazia Ilmi told media persons that it was a peaceful protest but the BJP workers resorted to pelting stones at them.
Water canons were used to disperse the crowd outside the Bharatiya Janata Party headquarters at Ashoka Road in central Delhi.
The incident took place just hours after Kejriwal, who began a four-day tour of Gujarat to test Chief Minister and BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi's claims that the state was a model of development, was detained by police in a village in north Gujarat.
The former Delhi chief minister was released after 30 minutes.
Earlier, Kejriwal accused Modi of being "anti-farmer" and "anti-common man".
"There is no development here," Kejriwal told the media and a large group of supporters even as several Modi backers waved black flags at him.
"Modi is anti-farmer, Modi is completely anti-common man," Kejriwal went on. "The only people who have benefitted in Gujarat are industrialists."
He said Modi was making exaggerated claims of developing Gujarat while addressing election rallies across the country and was rattled because he (Kejriwal) was "exposing the tall claims".
An Aam Aadmi Party leader told IANS that Kejriwal was detained allegedly on charges of violating the model code of conduct which came into effect after the Election Commission announced the Lok Sabha election schedule.
The Kejriwal aide said the AAP founder leader was on his way when police stopped the motorcade.
Kejriwal, the aide said, asked the police why he was being detained since he was not addressing any election rally -- which would need official permission -- and his car had no speaker.
"Still they took us to the police station," the aide said. "We were kept in the police station for half hour and then let off."
Kejriwal has said that he will tour Gujarat for four days in order to check the chief minister's claims about the state's all-round economic progress.
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