Lakhimpur Kheri violence: Congress delegation to meet President today

A Congress delegation led by party leader Rahul Gandhi will on Wednesday meet President Ram Nath Kovind over the violence in Tikunia village in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri district in which as many as eight people were killed.

Hindustan Times reported that the delegation will submit a memorandum on the facts of the October 3 violence to the President.

On October 10, the Congress had sought appointment with the President for a seven-member party delegation to meet him. The request was approved on Tuesday.

Also read: Lakhimpur violence: Ashish Mishra sent to 14-day judicial custody

The seven members of the delegation are Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, AK Antony, Mallikarjun Kharge, KC Venugopal, Ghulam Nabi Azad, and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury besides Rahul Gandhi.

The Congress has been attacking the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led Uttar Pradesh government over the violence. It has also questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s silence on the issue.

Priyanka and Rahul, who visited the Tikunia village in Lakhimpur Kheri, where the violence took place, took a jibe at PM Modi who visited Lucknow for inaugurating development projects. The Congress leaders said the Prime Minister did not have time to visit Lakhimpur Kheri.

Also read: Lakhimpur Kheri violence: Did holes in alibi lead to Ashish Mishra’s arrest?

Meanwhile, the BJP said that a lot of politics is happening around the Lakhimpur Kheri incident. Naming Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said that they were trying to project themselves as “champions of Dalits”.

“Yet, the incident of a young Dalit man in Rajasthan (ruled by the Congress) beaten to death a few days ago has gone uninvestigated and unnoticed,” Patra added.

Four farmers were among the eight killed in violence on October 3. Uttar Pradesh Police have so far arrested three people, including Ashish Mishra, the son of Union minister Ajay Mishra.

Union minister Ajay Mishra has refuted these allegations, saying that his son was not present at the spot. However, the farmers and opposition parties, including Congress, have been demanding that he should be sacked from the Union Cabinet.