Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. (File Photo)
Hundreds of buses arranged by the Congress, which were stuck on Uttar Pradesh-Rajasthan border for over 24 hours after the UP government refused to allow them to ferry stranded workers, began returning to Rajasthan on Wednesday, hours after Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra sought to withdraw them since the state refused the offer to run them.
Priyanka alleged that the UP government was creating hurdles rather than working jointly to help the stranded workers, while UP Deputy Chief Minister and senior BJP leader Dinesh Sharma alleged that she had sent Rajasthan Roadways buses, which she cannot do in her personal capacity.
The developments come on a day UP Congress chief Ajay Kumar Lallu, was granted bail by an Agra court a day after his arrest, along with a few other party leaders, for allegedly violating CrPC Section 144, lockdown orders and Sections of Epidemic Act. On Tuesday, Lallu had led a dharna against the UP government’s move to not allow the buses.
But a Lucknow police team present outside the court took Lallu into custody soon in connection with another case lodged against him and Priyanka’s private secretary Sandeep Singh at Lucknow’s Hazratganj police station on Tuesday for allegedly misleading the government by furnishing wrong details about the buses and making false statements.
Assistant Commissioner of Police (Hazratganj) Abhay Mishra said Lallu was brought to Lucknow and later produced before a local court, which sent him to judicial custody. He would be kept in a temporary jail in Lucknow, Mishra said.
On Wednesday evening, PTI reported from Jaipur that the Rajasthan Roadways buses started turning back from the state’s border with UP. “The buses are returning now after the UP government denied entry…” Sarvan Pathak, in-charge, Chiksana police station in Bharatpur, was quoted by PTI.
In a short video message released earlier in the day, Priyanka said this is “no time to play politics”, and urged UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to use the buses. “…If you want, you can paste your posters or banners on them, but kindly allow them to ply so that the migrants can be ferried in them,” she said.
Priyanka said, “Our buses are standing on the border since 4 pm yesterday…(they) would be there till 4 pm today. Please give them permit if you wish to use them, otherwise we would withdraw them.”
But reiterating the state government’s stance that many vehicles in the Congress’s list of 1,000 buses had fake numbers, or carried registration numbers of other vehicles, and some were in poor condition, Sharma asked Priyanka to apologise to the stranded people for “cheating” them.