Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party supporters yesterday clashed as the opposition party chief Rahul Gandhi arrived in his parliamentary constituency of Amethi, his first visit after taking over the party reins.
Both sides fought a pitched battle as district officials and local police had a tough time in handling the situation.
Legislative Council member Deepak Singh had a verbal tiff with Additional Superintendent of Police Shashi Shekhar after he accused the police of siding with and patronising lumpen elements belonging to the ruling BJP.
Thereafter, overzealous Congress workers chased away BJP supporters and allegedly hit them with sticks even as Gandhi looked on.
An angry Dal Bahadur Kori, the BJP’s legislator from Salon, threatened to petition the chief minister against the police after the attack on BJP workers.
Gandhi later met party workers and addressed them at Salon in Rae Bareli, where he targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi and accused him of rendering lip service to the eradication of poverty and said the governments in both Uttar Pradesh and at the national level were working for the welfare of rich industrialists.
He blamed the prime minister for the incomplete projects and instigating people on religious and caste lines.
The Congress chief said his party will ensure that a food park sanctioned during the earlier Congress-led government will be established in Amethi, despite resistance from the BJP.
The Gandhi family scion also performed ‘khichdi puja’ at Salon Nagar Panchayat office even as local traders raised slogans against him outside.
Amid the melee, the Congress president left for Amethi. He was greeted with flowers at many places on the way with many party workers trying to touch him and raising slogans in his favour.
He will stay at Munshiganj guesthouse in the night and meet party workers again today, a local Congress leader said.
Earlier, Gandhi received a warm welcome in Rae Bareli while on way to Amethi.
The Congress had tweeted pictures of Gandhi’s welcome and his interaction with people over tea at a ‘dhaba’. He was accompanied by Uttar Pradesh Congress president Raj Babbar.
Meanwhile, posters eulogising Gandhi as an incarnation of Ram and Modi as the ten-headed demon king Ravan have appeared at various places in Amethi.






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