Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel began a sit-in protest outside the Lucknow airport this afternoon as he was stopped by the state police amid widespread demonstrations against eight deaths on Sunday in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur district, about 130 km away. Mr Baghel said he wanted to meet Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who has been in police custody since yesterday in Sitapur. She said she was “illegally” arrested when she was on her way to Lakhimpur to meet those affected by Sunday’s violence while daring the UP government to keep her in custody “indefinitely”.
“I came to Lucknow to meet Priyanka Gandhi ji at Sitapur. But I am not being allowed to leave the airport,” the Chhattisgarh Chief Minister said.
In a video tweeted by the CM showed him sitting on the ground surrounded by UP Police officers.
In his tweet, the CM said: “I had heard a lot about Lucknowi Tehzeeb but what hapenned at the airport was quite the opposite. What have you done Yogi ji.”
He added: “I can understand how bad the people of Lucknow must be feeling. People must be understanding what they have lost.”
Protesting against the act by the UP government and administration, senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh retweeted the CM’s photo and wrote: “When 26/11 happened in Mumbai the Gujarat CM wasn’t stopped from addressing the media in Mumbai itself, during an extremely sensitive time. Have the PM and Mr. Ajay Mohan Bisht forgotten this?”
Meanwhile, the former members of parliament P L Punia and Pramod Tiwari who were waiting outside to receive Baghel expressed their anguish over the administration not allowing Chhattisgarh CM to enter the city.
“The administration claimed that CrPc 144 has been imposed which won’t allow more than four people to gather at one place, but at airport only Pramod Tiwari ji and I were heading to receive the Chhattisgarh CM, Bhupesh Baghel. But we too have been denied to meet him. We are former MPs and responsible citizens but it’s very unfortunate that the administration is not listening to us. Baghel has been denied to step outside the airport,” said P L Punia, former MP from Barabanki and in-charge of Chhattisgarh Congress unit.
Former MP Pramod Tiwari said, “Baghel was heading to Sitapur not Lakhimpur Kheri, but at the airport, we were told that he won’t be allowed to enter into Lucknow. Is there any threat from the CM of Chhattisgarh to UP? It seems that the current regime of state has turned dictator. Such orders of prohibiting two former MPs to meet Chhattisgarh CM and prevent him from entering into the city are undemocratic.” Later, Congress workers, led by Mamta Chaudhary, chief of party’s women’s wing in Lucknow, staged protest outside the airport.
