The Uttar Pradesh government Wednesday allowed Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to visit the violence-hit Lakhimpur Kheri district after initially saying no, and also released Vadra from three days of preventive detention.
The day also saw an AAP delegation meet the grieving families in Lakhimpur and junior minister Ajay Kumar Mishra calling on Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi for their first meeting since a murder case was registered against Mishra’s son for allegedly mowing down four farmers.
No arrest has been made in the case so far.
Initially, the state government had denied permission to Rahul Gandhi for his visit, which led the Congress leader to allege at a press conference that there is “dictatorship” in the country and farmers are being “systematically attacked”.
“There used to be democracy here, but there is a dictatorship in India now. Politicians cannot go to Uttar Pradesh. We are being told since yesterday that we cannot go to Uttar Pradesh,” Gandhi charged.
The BJP accused Rahul Gandhi of trying to fan unrest over the incident.
Later, the state government allowed Gandhi, his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and three other Congress leaders to visit the district. It also allowed all political parties to visit the state but not more than five people at a time.
Gandhi reached Lucknow’s Chaudhari Charan Singh airport in the afternoon from Delhi along with Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, his Chhattisgarh counterpart Bhupesh Baghel and party general secretaries K C Venugopal and Randeep Surjewala.
They were joined by Deepender Singh Hooda as they staged a brief sit-in inside the airport on being asked to travel to Lakhimpur in a police vehicle. They were finally allowed to go in their own car.
“First, I was told that I can go in my own vehicle, now you are saying that you will go in a police vehicle. They are doing some mischief,” Gandhi told reporters.
After he left the airport, it took Gandhi a couple of hours to reach the Provincial Armed Constabulary guest house in Sitapur, around 88 km from Lucknow, where Priyanka Gandhi was kept in detention since Monday morning.
Sitapur Sub-Divisional Magistrate (Sadar) Pyarelal Maurya said in the evening that Priyanka Gandhi has been released.
In Chandigarh, police used a water cannon to disperse AAP workers trying to lay siege to the Punjab governor’s house over the Lakhimpur Kheri violence.
Junior minister Ajay Kumar Mishra, meanwhile, met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi for the first time since a murder case was registered against Ashish for allegedly mowing down four farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri.
Sources said Mishra is understood to have briefed Shah about Sunday’s incident in his home district of Lakhimpur Kheri. Mishra has denied allegations of his son’s involvement.
Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal also said a party delegation will meet Shah and request him to ensure exemplary action against those involved in the killing of farmers.
