Katiyar detained near Gorakhpur

LUCKNOW: Former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state president Vinay Katiyar was arrested along with over 300 party workers near Gorakhpur on Thursday when he was going to visit riot-hit Kushinangar. Later, they were released.
Party''s state vice-president and spokesperson HN Dixit said that they were arrested by Gorkahpur SSP at Kushmi near Gorkhpur when they tried to move towards Kushinangar.After their arrest, Katiyar along with party general secretary Ramapati Ram and former Union minister Sriram Chauhan and party supporters sat on a dharna to press for his demands for lifting of curfew from nine villages in Kushinagar and immediate release of Hindus arrested after Janmashtami violence.
As the news of Katiyar''s arrest spread, agitated BJP workers tried to disrupt rail and road traffic in Padrauna and forced closure of markets in Hata and Kaptanganj.
Condemning the arrest of Katiyar and party workers, BJP state general secretary Vindhyawasini Kumar charged the Mulayam government with using terror-tactics to quell peaceful agitation of party leaders to protest police excesses on Hindus during Janmashtami violence in Kushinagar.