LUCKNOW: Congress president Rahul Gandhi, who embarked on a three-day visit to his parliamentary constituency Amethi on Monday, took a swipe at Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for failing to stand by the Unnao rape victim and her family in their hour of crisis.
The Congress chief charged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the CM with shielding the accused BJP MLA in the case.
Speaking at a farmers’ meeting in Amethi, Rahul Gandhi said that he did not want to discuss Yogi Adityanath, who was a step ahead of PM Modi. “Unnao mein jisne ladki ka rape kia, use hi bachaya (In Unnao rape case, he shielded the accused),” claimed the Congress leader.
Rahul held a random meeting with people in a village in Shukul bazar before heading for the Kisan panchayat.
Earlier, when the Congress president landed at Chaudhury Charan Singh airport in Lucknow on Monday morning, he had to face protests by Congressmen shouting slogan against the state unit chief. The protesters were accusing the party’s state leadership of selling poll tickets for huge sums of money. The names of UPCC chief Raj Babbar and the party’s former Rajya Sabha member, Pramod Tiwari, cropped up in connection with alleged corruption in ticket distribution.
Another embarrassment was awaiting the Congress president in Amethi, where the district administration stopped him from inaugurating a road connecting Thauri and Kotwa village. The event was scheduled to take place as part of Rahul’s visit to his constituency.
The 5.5-km-long road was made under the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojana at a cost of Rs 3.5 crore. The action came after BJP district president Uma Shankar Pandey objected to the proposed inauguration by Rahul Gandhi. The BJP leader’s contention was that since the road was still under construction, it could not be inaugurated. In the absence of a state government representative, the BJP leaders felt that Congressmen were trying to hijack credit for the road.