RAIPUR: The additional chief secretary of the UP government on Monday dashed off a letter to the director of Airport Authority of India (AAI) in Lucknow asking the officials to not grant any permission to the chief minister of Chhattisgarh and deputy CM of Punjab to land in the city.
Following this, CM Bhupesh Baghel may alter his plan and instead proceed to the national capital, official sources said. The senior Congress leaders were scheduled to visit the families of those who died in the violence at Lakhimpur Kheri.
At least eight persons, including four farmers, were killed when a farmers’ protest took a violent turn in Lakhimpur Kheri district, about 130 km from Uttar Pradesh state capital on Sunday.
Earlier in the day, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and other Congress leaders were detained at Sitapur. Citing the law and order situation at Janpad Lakhimpur Kheri, the UP ACS Avnish Kumar Awasthi has asked the AAI director of the Choudhary Charan Singh International airport, Lucknow to refuse permission to the two senior Congress leaders to land today.
"Section 144 is imposed at Lakhimpur Kheri but why are you stopping us to land in Lucknow. This move is nothing but to trample and suppress the rights of the citizens. The entire nation is watching how farmers are being ruthlessly dealt with by the BJP government", Baghel asserted.
In his letter the ACS told the director that the Lakhimpur Kheri district administration has imposed Section 144 of CrPC, following the incident on Sunday, October 3, 2021.