Uttar Pradesh government permits political parties to visit Lakhimpur Kheri

PTI, Oct 6, 2021, 3:06 PM IST

The Uttar Pradesh government has now granted permission to all political parties to visit Lakhimpur Kheri, where eight people died as violence erupted during a farmers’ protest three days back.

However, only five people will be allowed at a time, a top official said here.

Earlier in the day, the state government had denied permission to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for his visit to the violence-hit district, and an official spokesperson had said that no one would be allowed to go there to vitiate the atmosphere.

“Permission has been given to political parties to visit Lakhimpur. Only five people will be allowed,” Additional Chief Secretary (ACS), Home, Awanish Kumar Awasthi told PTI in Lucknow.

Before this, ACS, Information, Navneet Sehgal had said that permission had been given to five leaders of the Congress, including Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, to visit Lakhimpur.

Priyanka Gandhi is in detention at the PAC compound in Sitapur since Monday morning. She was on her way to meet the families of farmers killed in Sunday’s violence in Lakhimpur Kheri when she was stopped.