India: Priyanka, Rahul now allowed to visit Lakhimpur where 8 farmers died
They will meet the families of those who died in farmers' protests
Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh’s Yogi Adityanath government on Wednesday finally allowed Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and three others to visit Lakhimpur to meet the families of the deceased in the Sunday violence at a farmers’ protest.
The decision was taken after a high-level meeting with top officials.
Sources said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also spoken to Chief Minister Adityanath on the issue.
A senior official said that the Gandhis will be allowed to go to Lakhimpur with three others.
Rahul along with Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi earlier boarded a flight for Lucknow from New Delhi ahead of his visit to Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri district, where 8 people lost their lives in a violent incident on Sunday.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and Congress leader Randeep Surjewala are likely to accompany them to Lakhimpur.
Baghel had to return from the Lucknow airport on Tuesday after he was denied permission to meet Priyanka Gandhi in Sitapur.
Priyanka Gandhi, meanwhile, is being released on a personal bond. Aam Aadmi Party MP Sanjay Singh has also been released and is on his way to Lakhimpur.
Ajay Mishra meets Amit Shah
Meanwhile, Minister of State for Home Ajay Kumar Mishra, whose son Ashish Mishra is in the line of fire over his alleged involvement in the violence at Uttar Pradesh's Lakhimpur Kheri, on Wednesday met Union Home Minister Amit Shah at his residence
The meeting lasted over half an hour and it is understood that Mishra might have made his position clear in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case. Earlier, he went to his office in the North Block and stayed there for a while.
Ashish Mishra has been named in the FIR lodged by the Uttar Pradesh Police in the violence at Tikunia on Sunday for allegedly mowing down farmers who were going to protest against Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya's visit to the Union Minister's ancestral village for a function. A total of nine persons, including a local journalist and four farmers, were killed in the incident.
The FIR against Ashish Mishra charges him with murder and causing death by negligence, but the subsequent police inaction is fuelling the anger of the farmers as well as opposition leaders.
However, the Minister and his son have categorically denied any involvement in this incident and he claimed that his son was not present at the site of the incident.