Explosive found in Assembly: PETN not confirmed, CM must apologise, says Congress

UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath (File)

THE CONGRESS on Thursday demanded an apology from Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for allegedly announcing “in haste” that PETN explosive found inside the state Assembly, while the powder recovered from the House had no PETN — a highly explosive organic compound. “The chief minister gave a 40-minute speech in the Assembly about finding PETN and raising security concerns. As an immediate step, around 1,200 passes of visitors, including of former MLAs, were cancelled. However, to this date, there has not been any final confirmation about the powder found,” said Congress MLC Deepak Singh.

“We have come to know that in fact there was no PETN in that powder and announcement was made in haste to get enhanced security. This is not justified for a chief minister, who gave an official statement in the Assembly,” he added.

Singh said that besides an apology, Congress also demands the immediate reinstatement of the passes, which were cancelled. “While the chief minister himself or MLAs like Mukhtar Ansari might be worried about their security, most MLAs visit their constituencies even without a gunner. We believe there is no truth in this entire incident and it was done to create an atmosphere of terror and delusion of threat,” he added.