LUCKNOW: Police have erected barricades outside the Uttar Pradesh Congress committee office and the residences of several party leaders who were to accompany the unit's chief Ajay Rai on a fact-finding visit to violence-hit Sambhal, a party spokesperson said on Monday.
Vikas Srivastava, the spokesperson, said the barricades were erected on Sunday night itself.
The Congress had plans to visit Sambhal on Monday.
Speaking to PTI, Rai said, "We had decided to visit Sambhal on December 2 as the government ban on the entry of public representatives was to be lifted by November 30. Now, they have suddenly extended the ban till December 10. The government clearly wants to hide its flaws."
Rai spent the night at the Congress committee office along with several party workers.
"If prevented, we would agitate peacefully in a Gandhian way as we are followers of Mahatma Gandhi," he said.
Violence erupted in Sambhal on November 24 during a court-ordered survey of the Shahi Jama Masjid, killing four people and injuring many others.
The survey was linked to a petition claiming that a Harihar temple once stood at the site of the mosque.