LUCKNOW: While Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) chief Ajay Kumar Lallu secured interim bail by a local court after furnishing a personal surety bond of Rs 20,000 for his release in a case related to violation of lockdown in Agra on Wednesday, he was arrested again by Lucknow police that had reached Agra earlier in the day.
Meanwhile, the buses –over 500 in number—were sent back from UP-Rajasthan border by the Congress leadership as they were not allowed to ferry the migrants. Lallu was booked in a case of fraud and forgery by the Lucknow police on Tuesday night for allegedely submitting wrong details of the 1000 buses offered by the party to ferry moving migrants.
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi’s private secretary Sandeep Singh was also named in the FIR.
In Agra, another FIR was lodged against the UPCC chief under Sections 188 and 269 for flouting the norms of lockdown while protesting against Agra administration for not allowing passage to 500 buses of Rajasthan road transport department.
Meanwhile, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Wednesday targeted the state government for not allowing the buses arranged by the party to ferry migrants into the state.
Launching an attack on state dispensation led by Yogi Adityanath, Priyanka said that if those buses would have been allowed to run, around 72,000 people would have reached home by now. "But they (UP government) were engaged in politics. The buses were are standing at the Rajasthan-Uttar Pradesh border since yesterday and are not being of any help," Gandhi said in a video message released to media.
She reiterated said that the Congress wanted to help in a positive way and did not want to indulge in politics. She called upon the UP CM to let the buses enter Uttar Pradesh. "This is not a time to play politics, all parties should set aside politics and help people,"said the Congress leader.
She had claimed that the buses would remain stationed at Uttar Pradesh border till 4 pm on Wednesday after which she would send them back. Priyanka Gandhi and the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh had been at loggerheads over Congress’s offer to send 1,000 buses to help transport migrants in Uttar Pradesh.
The offer was made on Saturday, and accepted on Monday. But by Tuesday evening, the state government said only 879 of the 1,000 vehicles were buses, and the rest three-wheelers and other vehicles, triggering angry reactions from the Congress.
"UP government has crossed all the limits. When there is an opportunity to do away with political differences and serve helpless migrant labourers it has caused all the hindrances. @myogiadityanath ji you can use BJP flags and your posters on these buses, but don’t reject our feelings of service," she had said
in a tweet on Tuesday.
The Congress had on Tuesday accused the BJP and Adityanath of indulging in "cheap politics" and “doublespeak” by not letting in its buses to ferry migrants.