UP Congress chief Ajay Rai alleges ‘house arrest’ after PM protest announcement, police deny claim

The Congress leader had announced to stage a protest against the PM after state minister Dinesh Singh tried to stop the cavalcade of Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi during his visit to his parliamentary constituency Raebareli on Wednesday.

Rai said he was put under house arrest before he was scheduled to leave for Varanasi early Thursday morning along with other party colleagues.

“Yesterday, there was a visit of Rahul ji in his parliamentary constituency, and on the direction of Modi ji, his minister tried to unnecessarily block his cavalcade, and stop him from moving in his own parliamentary constituency,” Rai told The Indian Express.

In a statement released in the afternoon, the state Congress media cell said the police even stopped Rai from going to the party office in Lucknow, and meeting the media at his residence under the PGI police station area. The cell also claimed that Rai was under house arrest, and under police watch.

When contacted, R Vasanth Kumar, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Lucknow South), denied that Rai is under house arrest. He refused to comment further.

DCP (South) Nipun Aggrawal also did not respond to calls. So did other senior officials.

Congress’ Varanasi (city) president Rasghavendra Chaubey said they had planned to protest against the PM near Police Lines but were detained on their way. Their party leaders and workers protested with placards at Patel Dharamshala, where they were kept under detention, he said.