Amethi admin asks Rahul Gandhi to re-schedule visit, Congress cries foul

NEW DELHI: The Amethi district administration on Sunday urged Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi to postpone his proposed visit to his Lok Sabha constituency on law-and-order grounds, drawing flak from the opposition party.

Rahul is scheduled to visit Amethi from October 4-6.

"In order to maintain law-and-order, a majority of the district police force will be on duty. Hence, there will be great inconvenience in maintaining peace. Therefore, it is requested that the tour be re-scheduled on any date after October 5," a letter written by the Amethi administration to the district Congress chief said.

The letter, signed by District Magistrate Yogesh Kumar and Superintendent of Police Poonam, added, "Through a letter (dated September 30), it was informed that a visit of MP Rahul Gandhi is proposed from October 4 to October 6. However, on October 5, Durga Puja/Dussehra and Muharram will culminate at several places."


Reacting sharply to the letter, senior Uttar Pradesh Congress leader Akhilesh Singh accused the Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government in the state of "using tactics" to stop Gandhi from visiting his Lok Sabha constituency.

"The Uttar Pradesh government is worried and doesn't want Rahul to visit Amethi, fearing that he might raise issues directly related to the public. This scares the BJP," he said.

Singh said the Yogi government was perhaps worried that Gandhi's schedule might "eclipse" the proposed visit by BJP chief Amit Shah and Union ministers Smriti Irani and Nitin Gadkari to Amethi on October 10.

Refuting the grounds on which the authorities have asked the Congress vice-president to re-schedule his visit, Singh was quoted as saying by PTI that by October 4, almost all the festivities would be over.

"After all, Rahul is visiting his own parliamentary constituency," he pointed out.

Interestingly, last month, "missing" posters of Rahul Gandhi had surfaced in his constituency.

The posters also offered a "reward" for anyone who could trace their MP.

(with PTI inputs)