Mandi BJP candidate Kangana Ranaut had to face a protest by local residents at Kaza, the district headquarters of Lahaul-Spiti, where she was campaigning on Monday.

The protesters showed her black flags and raised slogans, asking her to go back. The residents of Spiti, most of who follow Buddhism, were expressing anger as the actor-turned-politician had shared an offensive social media post last year showing a photoshopped image of Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama with US President Joe Biden. She had apologised for sharing the post.

The situation turned tense when her motorcade drove past the protesters. There was a face-off between supporters of the BJP and the Congress. The BJP alleged that the confrontation was orchestrated by the Congress and some workers were injured.

It is learnt that the protest by local residents was scheduled but more people joined it, leading to the faceoff. Kangana had to wrap up her speech in a hurry.

Former chief minister Jai Ram Thakur, who was accompanying Kangana, said, “We were here to address a rally. We had permission but the local election department allowed the Congress to hold a rally opposite our venue. They tried to disrupt our rally and our convoy was stopped when we were returning. Stones were thrown at us and one of our workers was injured. This is condemnable. This shows the Congress is apprehensive. There is no justification for giving the Congress permission to hold a rally at the same venue. We will report this to the Election Commission.”

At the rally, Kangana said: “This election is about making India self-reliant. The INDIA bloc is only an alliance of families with corruption on their mind, while in the past decade, the country has progressed under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership.” She appealed to the people to elect the BJP again.