Congress protests arrest of Priyanka Gandhi in UP, House adjourned

BHOPAL: House was adjourned amid ruckus during

Question Hour

on Saturday as ruling Congress MLAs and ministers protested against the arrest of AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi by the Uttar Pradesh police. Priyanka Gandhi on Friday was stopped on her way to Sonbhadra to meet the families of ten tribals who were gunned down this week.

Congress MLAs claimed her arrest was illegal and tribal community is being suppressed by the BJP.

Ministers of the Kamal Nath government including Dr Govind Singh, Hukum Singh Karada, Sajjan Singh Verma, PC Sharma, Priyavrat Singh, Jeetu Patwari and others walked with ruling party MLAs from the main entrance of the state assembly to the House wearing black badges and raising anti-Narendra Modi and anti-Yogi Adityanath slogans.

Soon as House commenced for Question Hour, minister for higher education Jeetu Patwari said, “Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi has been arrested and detained through the night. She was going to wipe the tears of those who lost their family members in Sonbhadra.” Congress claimed that the Sonbhadra incident and killing of ten tribals was unfortunate.

Minister for tribal welfare Omkar Singh Markam alleged, “Ten tribals have been killed by the BJP government. This was a conspiracy by the BJP. When our leader and Congress family head goes to meet affected families and she gets arrested.”

Leader of Opposition Gopal Bhargava argued, “What is significance of this discussion on the incident of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra?” This one sentence started an uproar from the ruling party and treasury benches. The ruckus forced Speaker NP Prajapati to adjourn the House for five minutes.

Speaking to TOI, minister for law PC Sharma said, “Priyanka Gandhi’s arrest was unconstitutional. She was going to meet the families of victims of the incident. Even the guest house where she was detained had no basic facilities, the power and water supply was snapped. The entire country and Congress party stands with our leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi.”

Chief minister Kamal Nath tweeted, “Unconstitutional and unfortunate to stop and arrest Priyanka Gandhi when she was going to meet victim families of the Sonbhadra tribal massacre in Uttar Pradesh. UP government’s oppressive step is abuse of democracy. Effort to suppress the voice of victim families.”

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