Monday, November 21 2005 16:46 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Kolkata: Police swung into action and arrested 108 Congress activists for trying to block rail and road traffic in three West Bengal districts on the second day of the party's statewide demonstration against arrest of Congress MP Adhir Chaudhury, even as Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee said that such stir would not tarnish image of the state outside.

''This kind of demonstration will not affect our state's image outside as none has the capacity to stall progress of West Bengal'', Bhattacharjee told reporters in a critical observation of Congress' agitation against the arrest.

Fifty workers of state Congress's student wing Chattra Parishad were rounded up from different areas of South Dinajpur district for enforcing a 12-hour bandh today (Nov 21,2005) which had, however, 'little impact', state's IGP (law and order) Raj Kanojia said.

He said that 50 more arrests were made from North 24-parganas district town of Bongaon where the agitators were attempting to block rail movement.

According to the police, 'some' Congress workers were arrested from Uluberia in adjoining Howrah district on charge of blocking rail and road traffic.

Chowdhury was remanded to judicial custody for eight days by a local court in his parliamentary constituency Berhampore, the district headquarters town of Murshidabad for allegedly killing a restaurant owner and his son in July.

Police said eight members of Chhatra Parishad were arrested near the Writers' Buildings, the state secretariat for staging a noisy demonstration in the prohibitory order-bound area during the day.