Lucknow: A Congress delegation of senior leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, arrived in Palia tehsil of Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday evening and met the family members of one of the four farmers who died in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence.
The Congress leaders drove to the Chaukhada farm residence of deceased Lovepreet Singh, spoke to the bereaved family members and conveyed their deepest condolences to them, party sources said.
Besides Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi and former party chief Rahul Gandhi, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, his Punjab counterpart Charanjit Singh Channi and Deepender Singh Hooda were part of the delegation that met the bereaved family.
Earlier, after arriving in Sitapur, Rahul had met Priyanka Gandhi at a PAC guest house in Sitapur where she was kept in detention since Monday morning.
After Sitapur Sub-Divisional Magistrate (Sadar) Pyarelal Maurya said that Priyanka Gandhi was released from detention, the Congress General Secretary had left with her brother, to Lakhimpur Kheri.
Rahul and Priyanka had travelled in one vehicle while Congress leaders Randeep Surjewala and Deepinder Hooda were in another. Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and his Chhattisgarh counterpart Bhupesh Baghel were also part of the entourage.
Meanwhile, sources said that senior leader Sachin Pilot's motorcade was moving slowly as it was stopped at multiple places on the way by police personnel who searched the cars and asked him questions before letting him proceed.
Gandhi had reached the Chaudhari Charan Singh airport in the afternoon from Delhi along with Channi, Baghel, Venugopal and Surjewala. At the airport, he had entered a heated argument with security staff after they insisted that the leader take an official airport car to Lakhimpur.
Gandhi was later allowed to travel in his car after he refused to leave the airport.
The Uttar Pradesh government had earlier granted permission to all political parties to visit Lakhimpur Kheri, where eight people died as violence erupted during a farmers' protest three days back.
However, only five people will be allowed at a time, a top official said here.
Asked about the detention of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and the treatment meted out to her, Rahul Gandhi said it is not about her but this is an issue about farmers.
"Be it Priyanka or me or anybody of our family, manhandling does not bother us... You can manhandle us, detain us, hit us or bury us, it does not bother us. This is part of our training of years given by our family. It will not bother us," he claimed.
Gandhi alleged that a new type of politics is being played in Uttar Pradesh where criminals are doing whatever they want and are roaming freely while those seeking justice for the victims are being arrested.
"Those who commit the crime and murders are outside the jail and those who die go inside the jail," Gandhi said.
"We want to go there and support the families. Only we are being stopped, while others parties are being allowed to visit there. What wrong have we done," he said, adding his goal is to meet those who have been killed and know the ground reality.
The opposition's work is to exert pressure on the government for taking action against the guilty and that is what we are trying to do, he said, adding that had they not put pressure and visited Hathras those who committed rape would have gone scot free.
He also alleged that the institutional structure of the country has been captured by the BJP/RSS and not just the media, all institutions in the country have been controlled.
