Unruly scenes at Rahul Gandhi's rally in West Bengal's Malda

Unruly scenes were witnessed at AICC president Rahul Gandhi's rally venue at Malda on Saturday when restive party supporters threw chairs and broke the barricade of the VIP enclosure. Gandhi was not present at the venue at Chanchal at the time as he is scheduled to reach there at 3 pm from Purnea in Bihar.

The incident took place when Congress activists who had arrived at the venue from the nearby districts tried to barge into the inner ring of the rally ground, leading to the commotion. They shouted slogans against the party's state leadership for not making proper arrangements for the supporters to sit at the venue.

The state Congress leaders and police personnel posted at the spot tried to pacify the crowd but their pleas fell on deaf ears as supporters started throwing chairs at the VIP sitting zone in front of the stage, which was earmarked for senior party leaders and MLAs.

The situation was brought under control after the police and party leaders pacified the crowd, party sources said. Gandhi will officially kick off the party's Lok Sabha polls campaign in West Bengal from the Chanchal rally.