Lucknow: Congress Leader Rahul Gandhi, Congress Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is given permission to meet the kin of victim’s family in Lakhimpur Kheri, after the Lakhimpur violence incident and Rahul Gandhi has reached Lucknow.
Rahul Gandhi is accompained by three others. Five members from each party will be allowed.
It is understood Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will travel to Choraha to meet the family of Lovepreet Singh, 19, after which they will meet Raman Kashyap’s family at Nidhasan and then travel to Nanpara.
A delegation from Delhi’s ruling Aam Aadmi Party – led by MLA Raghav Chadha has also been given permission. They were detained yesterday evening around 15 km from Lakhimpur Kheri.
UP police had so far blocked Mr Gandhi, Ms Gandhi Vadra and other opposition leaders from travelling to Lakhimpur Kheri to visit the families of the four farmers run over by vehicles, one of which was allegedly driven by Union Minister Ajay Mishra’s son, Ashish Mishra.
Opposition leaders supporting the farmers were stopped from visiting the area. The state government has requested the Lucknow airport authority not to allow the arrival of Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and Punjab’s Deputy Chief Minister Sukhjinder S Randhawa.
Several other leaders including Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu were also blocked from visiting Lakhimpur Kheri. Congress’s Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who was arrested while on way to Lakhimpur Kheri, said she was manhandled by the police. She questioned why she was arrested when the minister’s son, who is accused of running over protesting farmers, is roaming free.
The incident in Lakhimpur Kheri had ripples in the Supreme Court, where the farmers had appealed for permission to hold protests in the heart of Delhi.
Representing the government, Attorney General KK Veugopal said, “There should be no further protests to prevent unfortunate incidents like the one in Lakhimpur Kheri yesterday”. The court questioned why the farmers are continuing their protest since it has already put a freeze on the farm laws.
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