Rahul Stopped At Ghazipur Border On Way To Sambhal

Ghaziabad (UP): A delegation of Congress leaders led by Rahul Gandhi on its way to violence-hit Sambhal was stopped by Uttar Pradesh Police at Ghazipur border here on Wednesday and had to return, with the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha terming the action as "anti-constitutional".

The opposition party's leaders, including Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, returned to Delhi after staying at the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border for about two hours, failing to proceed onwards. A massive traffic jam was witnessed at the Ghazipur border on the Delhi-Meerut Expressway in the morning as Congress workers gathered there amid heavy security deployment and barricading.

The carriageway from Delhi to Uttar Pradesh was heavily congested, with thousands of commuters facing a harrowing time on the road. After being stopped at the Ghazipur border, Rahul Gandhi said he was ready to go alone to Sambhal with police but was not allowed. "We are trying to go to Sambhal. Police are refusing, not allowing us.

As the leader of opposition in Lok Sabha, it is my right to go... I said that I am ready to go alone, I am ready to go with the police but they did not accept that either," he said. "Now they are saying that if we come back in a few days, they will let us go. This is actually against the right of the leader of opposition in Lok Sabha. I should be allowed to go," he told reporters. BJP leaders in Uttar Pradesh decried the Congress's move as a "drama" aimed at "appeasing its Muslim vote bank".

Meanwhile, Congress legislative party leader in Uttar Pradesh assembly Aradhana Mishra 'Mona' claimed in Lucknow that she was supposed to be a part of the delegation but was put under "house arrest". "I am under house arrest. This is hooliganism and anarchy by the government. Rahul ji, the Congress party and I will visit Sambhal today, tomorrow or whenever we can," she said.