Tension is mounting in Bathinda just days before the Municipal Corporation (MC) elections after the police booked four persons and arrested two social activists, Gurwinder Sharma and Dalveer Singh, over allegations of threatening a migrant worker on Thursday.What began as a civic cleanliness campaign has now snowballed into a political flashpoint, drawing sharp reactions from activists and some residents, who even held a meeting on Friday.During the meeting, a video of the complainant, Vinay Yadav, and his associate surfaced in which they allegedly claimed they were not even aware of the contents of the complaint and had been misled on some other pretext.Those attending the meeting condemned the FIR registered by the Kotwali police against Gurwinder Sharma, Dalveer Singh, Nanu Sharma and Sangam Singh under Sections 196, 197, 126(2), 351(2) and 190 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).Social activist Sonu Maheshwari said, “The complainant himself says the complaint is false. We want to know why and under whose direction the FIR was registered. Action should be taken in this regard.”Notably, for the past several days, some volunteers had been running a public drive urging migrant workers and residents to help keep the city free from garbage and encroachments.Meanwhile, the two arrested persons were sent to judicial custody.Yadwinder Singh, SHO of the Kotwali police station, was, however, not available for comment over the phone.Meanwhile, a senior police officer said, “Nearly 30 persons had come to the police station yesterday to lodge a complaint. They have not given any fresh statement to us saying that they were unaware of the nature of the complaint.”