Akhilesh under ‘house arrest’,claims SP protest successful

Claiming the party’s agitation was totally successful,the SP in a release said more than one lakh effigies of Chief Minister Mayawati were burnt across the state on Thursday.

In the morning,Akhilesh Yadav told reporters that in a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar he has written to her about the restriction on his movement and cited it as a case of breach of his privilege. “My message has been communicated to her. Police are not allowing me to go the party office situated just 200 yards away from h¿re,” he told reporters.

The heavy security arrangements particularly on a road stretch between SP state office and official residence of former CM Mulayam Singh Yadav – 5 Vikramditya Marg — apparently made Akhilesh feel justified. “We wanted to prove the CM,Mayawati,is autocratic. I am alone here and yet there are a large number of policemen to ensure complete check on my movement,if any,” he further said.

Akhilesh ordered his staff to offer sweets to policemen who came to get water from the water cooler installed outside his office.

“The police has been doing nothing but chasing SP workers right since March 6. We wanted to spread our message that this government is corrupt and we have succeeded in our m¿ssion,” he added.

Reacting to the disclosure of Wikileaks on no-confidence motion of 2008, Akhilesh said it will distract people’s attention from our agitation.

Govt denies SP claim

The state government has denied the SP claim that the police had put Akhilesh Yadav under house arrest.

The government said SP workers burnt the effigies of CM Mayawati at a few places,but there was no damage to the government property.

Special DG (Law and Order) Brij Lal praised the administration for making tight security arrangements. He said 317 SP workers were arrested from different parts of the state.