Protesters get a ‘kick’ from Congress leaders

However,officials of the Special Protection Group (SPG) and local police,besides Congress Legislative Party leader Pramod Tiwari and central minister Jitin Prasada,managed to catch hold of them and prevent them from doing so.

While television footage showed Tiwari kicking a protester — and while doing so he fell down — Prasada too could be seen running towards them. It also appeared that he kicked the student leader,who was caught.

Later,talking to mediapersons,senior Congress leader Raj Babbar termed the incident unfortunate and blamed the Uttar Pradesh police for the breach of security. “It could have turned into a major episode. The police were supposed to prevent people from entering the secure area,” he said.

DIG (Allahabad) Prakash D,when contacted,said he was busy with VVIP duty and would comment later.

One of the activists,who were apparently protesting against Rahul Gandhi’s failure in getting the students’ union in Allahabad University revived,earlier too managed to stop Rahul’s cavalcade when he visited Allahabad in 2008. He had also shown black flags to Sonia Gandhi when she addressed a rally here last year.

Earlier in the day,Samajwadi Yuvjan Sabha staged a protest at Prayag railway station. They burnt an effigy of Rahul on the issue of price rise.

There were also reports of minor skirmishes between some BJP workers and Congress supporters outside the rally venue. Sources claimed that four persons sustained minor injuries,but officials did not confirm the same.

Some of the protesters also included Congressmen,angry over not being given tickets. A former NSUI activist,Srish Dwivedi,put up a poster in Civil Lines area depicting an unidentified man cutting the tree called Congress; trying to point out that some senior leaders were working against the party’s interests.

Ruling BSP accuses Rahul of insulting migrants from UP

Lucknow: The Bahujan Samaj Party on Monday accused Rahul Gandhi of insulting people from Uttar Pradesh who have gone to other states to earn their living.

In a statement,state BSP president Swami Prasad Maurya said Rahul Gandhi’s comment about such people was “objectionable and insulting’’. He also said the Congress,which ruled the state for the longest period,was responsible for the conditions in which people from UP had to migrate to other states. While addressing a rally in Jhunsi in Allahabad earlier in the day,Rahul Gandhi had said: “Kab tak Maharashtra men bheekh maangoge,kab tak Punjab men mazdoori karoge (How long will you beg in Maharashtra and do labour work in Punjab)?’’ Maurya said contrary to Rahul Gandhi’s allegations about Central funds,the UP government had spent much more on the development of Bundelkhand than the money given in the Central package. Reacting to Congress General Secretary’s charge of the state government being insensitive to farmers’ plight,BSP leader said Chief Minister Mayawati had visited every district in Bundelkhand during her statewide tour in February and March and inspected government offices and interacted with public.

Maurya claimed that according to the website of the Union Rural Development Ministry,UP was far ahead of other states in implementation of the MGNREGA scheme. He further said the Congress had a long history of corruption,and the 2G and the Commonwealth scams were the latest additions.