The Australian Labor Party's branch meeting in Melbourne's west turned violent, when factional figure and branch official, Jasvinder Sidhu was assaulted by an unknown person on Saturday morning.
Mr Sidhu, who is the assistant secretary of the party’s Tarneit branch and a former pre-selection candidate, was reportedly hit on his arm and punched in the head, at a Hoppers Crossings branch meeting that he was hosting at his Babele Road home.
The meeting which is usually attended by a handful of people descended into chaos, after over 100 non-members turned up unannounced at the venue, sparking fresh 'branch stacking concerns'.
A picture of Labor’s branch official Jasvinder Sidhu with Premiere Daniel Andrews. Source: Supplied
“I cannot make any further comments as the matter is currently being investigated by Victoria Police,” he added.
A video recording of the incident shows Tarneit MP Sarah Connolly and Western Metro MP Kaushaliya Vaghela and a handful of Ms Vaghela’s staff members at the meeting venue, besides others.
A spokesperson for Premier Daniel Andrews said, “this is a matter for the Labor Party,” and declined to comment further.
Western Metro MP Kaushaliya Vaghela also attended the meeting. Source: Supplied
But his supporters are now claiming that the surprise turnout at the branch meeting was, in fact, a “right-aligned strategy to garner support", ahead of pre-selection of candidates for Melbourne’s western and south-eastern seats.
Harvarinder Singh Grewal who was also present at the meeting said that “some of the attendees turned aggressive after Mr Sidhu informed them that the meeting had been called off.”
“They were signing their names on to a register outside his house and were chanting “Let’s join the party”,” Mr Grewal told SBS Punjabi.
A Victoria police spokesperson confirmed it is investigating the incident.
