Lucknow: Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Congress general secretary was detained by the Uttar Pradesh police in Hargaon police station area at around 5.30 am on Monday.
She was placed under house arrest by the Uttar Pradesh Police, defied the order and left for Lakhimpur Kheri from Lucknow on Sunday night. She has been taken to a guest house in Sitapur district. The UP Congress tweeted asking people to reach the area in support.
The Congress leader was expected to meet victim’s kin in Tikunia on Monday following the deadly clash between a group of protesting farmers and the convoy of Union Minister of State (MoS) for Home Ajay Misra’s son Ashish Misra, was earlier stopped from leaving Lucknow and placed under a house arrest.
She had tweeted claiming that the BJP government is doing the politics of crushing the farmers, it is doing the politics of destroying the farmers.
Reacting to the UP Police’s order to place her under house arrest, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had said, “I am not committing a crime by stepping out of the house. I just want to meet the affected families and share their grief. What wrong am I committing? And if I have done something wrong, then you [UP Police] should have an order, a warrant. You [UP Police] are stopping me, my car, but for what reason?”
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had reached the Lucknow airport on Sunday and had gone straight for Kaul House, her residence in Lucknow, when she was stopped by the police and put under house arrest.
She was accompanied by Congress leaders Deepender S Hooda, Aradhana Misra, and Pramod Tiwari.
Soon after she was placed under house arrest, Congress workers gathered outside her residence in Lucknow and raised slogans against the order.
Acting on the rising tensions in Lakhimpur, section 144 has been imposed in the district on Sunday night along with additional police deployment. Entry of political leaders into the district has been banned and heavy deployment of police has been made in surrounding districts too.
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is among the several Opposition and farm leaders who are scheduled to visit Lakhimpur Kheri on Monday following the clash that took place between agitating farmers and Union minister Ajay Misra’s convoy on Sunday. The clash has claimed at least eight lives.
However, according to sources, the Uttar Pradesh authorities will not allow political leaders to reach Lakhimpur Kheri till the situation is normalised in the area.
In fact, on the intervening night between Sunday and Monday, Aam Aadmi Party leader Sanjay Singh was stopped in Sitapur on his way to Lakhimpur Kheri. He was stopped during checking of vehicles in Laharpur area of the district.
As an independent media platform, we do not take advertisements from governments and corporate houses. It is you, our readers, who have supported us on our journey to do honest and unbiased journalism. Please contribute, so that we can continue to do the same in future.
