Angry over the nomination of Shivraj Singh Chouhan as Madhya Pradesh chief minister, supporters of Uma Bharti turned violent on Monday, smashing furniture and a gate at the venue of state Bharatiya Janata Party legislature party meeting.

The meeting was called to formally elect Chouhan, chief of state BJP unit, as its leader on Monday evening.

A large number of Bharti supporters gathered at the venue and ransacked the chairs and a decorated gate erected to welcome Chouhan, prompting police to resort to lathicharge.

• Bharti unhappy with Chouhan's selection

The violence erupted soon after Chouhan arrived at the meeting venue. Large numbers of Bharti's supporters started shouting slogans against senior BJP leaders, including Arun Jaitley and Pramod Mahajan, who have been appointed central party observers for the legislature party meeting.

Chaos reigned as the protesters, who had virtually surrounded the building, hurled chairs and other furniture; some of them pulled down the giant gate and burnt effigies of senior party leaders.

In a bid to control the crowd and ensure smooth conduct of the meeting, police personnel deployed near the venue resorted to lathicharge and used mild force to push the protesters away, police sources said.