Rahul Gandhi in Uttar Pradesh LIVE updates: Congress V-P to visit his constituency Amethi

Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi during an interaction with the dairy farmers at Pipalia Raj, Rajkot in Gujarat. (PTI photo)

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s three-day visit to Uttar Pradesh begins today. During his Uttar Pradesh visit, Rahul Gandhi is scheduled to hold ‘chaupals’ with farmers, meetings with locals as well as party workers. Rahul Gandhi will also visit his parliamentary constituency Amethi, for the first time since the Congress Party suffered a major defeat in the uttar PRadesh state assembly elections around six months ago.

The Amethi district administration, on September 30, had requested Rahul Gandhi to change the date of his visit. Stating that police personnel were already employed to maintain law and order during Durga Puja and Muharram, the administration had expressed difficulty in providing security for him. However, the dates of the visit were not changed as the authorities gave a go-ahead on Tuesday.

Rahul Gandhi’s Uttar Pradesh visit LIVE updates:

9.15 am: Later on, the district administration said that their “intention was misunderstood”. Yogesh Kumar, District Magistrate, Amethi, told The Indian Express, “We have been informed about his (Rahul’s) three-day visit and will provide him security. First of all, security was never denied to him. The district administration can never deny security to a Member of Parliament. We had just requested him to shift his visit because of ongoing festive season and deployment of police force elsewhere. Police force has also come from adjoining districts for Durga visarjan and other arrangements.”

9.00 am: In response to the letter, senior UP 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 does not 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.

8.45 am: Ahead of Rahul Gandhi’s visit, the Amethi district authorities requested him to change his tour dates. “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 was signed by District Magistrate Yogesh Kumar and Superintendent of Police Poonam.

8.30 am: Informing about Gandhi’s schedule, his representative Chandrakant Dubey said, “On October 4, he will hold chaupal in Kathora village of Jagdishpur area in Amethi and will also visit different villages of his constituency.” Gandhi is expected to listen to farmers’ grievances at the ‘chaupal’. Kathora is the same village for which the Congress vice-president had visited the office of the National Highway Authority of India in Lucknow, two months ago. Farmers of the village, who also accompanied him, alleged discrepancies in compensation given to them in exchange for the land being acquired for a road project.

Read: Rahul Gandhi’s three-day UP visit starts today, to host ‘chaupal’ for farmers, meetings with party workers

8.15 am: Rahul Gandhi is expected to fly down to Lucknow and leave for Amethi by road. He will be stopping at various villages to meet and interact with people. He is expected to stay the night at Munshiganj guest house.