Mangaluru: A Congress delegation comprising senior leaders have been detained at the Mangaluru International Airport by the police after they refused to return to Bengaluru. They were later sent back to Bengaluru.

It can be recalled that earlier, the police attempted to send the delegation back to Bengaluru when they arrived at the Mangaluru airport. The delegation including Congress leaders such as M B Patil, S R Patil, Zameer Ahmed Khan, V S Ugrappa, C M Ibrahim and former Assembly speaker Ramesh Kumar, intended to visit Mangaluru city following the violent clashes during the anti-CAA protests on Thursday. They also wanted to meet the kin of the two civilians who were killed in the police firing.

The delegation had refused to return to Bengaluru stating that they wanted to understand the condition in the city. They were visibly miffed when the police detained them and took them away in a van.

Before they were detained by the police, Ugrappa, Ramesh Kumar and M B Patil managed to speak a few words to members of the media. They lamented that they were being denied an opportunity to meet with the people or even to step into the city.

They also reportedly alleged that there is an unofficial state of emergency in the city.

Speaking to News9, V S Ugrappa informed that former chief minister Siddaramaiah did not arrive in Mangaluru with them as he was not allowed to leave Bengaluru, even though prior information of the visit was given to the authorities.

Speaking to the media, leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council, S R Patil said that they were not trying to disrupt the law and order situation in the city. They were merely exercising their rights as the people’s representatives to meet the people and the kin of the two civilians who were killed in the police firing.

Former speaker Kumar asked the media if they were “terrorists” to be treated in such a way. “Are we terrorists? They (police) are not even allowing us to find out the truth,” he said.

For now, section 144 and curfew prevails in the city in order to get the situation under control.