Lakhimpur Kheri (UP), Oct 4 (PTI) Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait and Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra along with several supporters reached here early Monday in wake of the violence during an anti-farm laws protest that claimed eight lives.
Priyanka and party leader Deepinder Singh Hooda arrived in Lucknow on Sunday night.
"Priyankaji has left for Lakhimpur Kheri," UP Congress spokesperson Ashok Singh told PTI.
Earlier, a party leader had said, "Priyankaji has not left (for Lakhimpur Kheri). There are full chances of house arrest. There are 300 policemen and 150 women constables outside the house (where she is staying). Over 300 Congress workers have also gathered there."
Priyanka had hit out at the BJP over the violence and sought to know whether farmers had the right to live in this country.
"How much does BJP hate the farmers of the country? Don't they have the right to live? If they raise their voice, they will be shot or crushed under a car. Enough. This is a country of farmers not the fiefdom of BJP's brutal ideology," she said on Twitter.
"Farmers agitation will be strengthened further and their voice will be louder," she said.
Eight people were killed on Sunday as violence erupted during the farmers' protest, claiming the lives of both farmers and BJP workers.
We will first meet the farmers and villagers and discuss the situation with them. The future course of action will be done on the basis of the discussion with the villagers and farmers. Their decision will prevail, Tikait told reporters at Banbirpur village.
Prodded about certain comments made by Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra in purported videos that have surfaced on social media, Tikait demanded his arrest and said the atmosphere in the region was being vitiated over the last 10 days.
Tikait said he would speak about it in detail after meeting the villagers.
The national spokesperson of the BKU, a non-political farmers' union, had started from western UP on Sunday evening and hoped to reach here by midnight, with his associates blaming the delay on multiple police checks.
En route to Lakhimpur, we were stopped at multiple places by the UP Police. Somehow we have managed to reach here at Banbirpur village and Tikait ji will now be meeting the farmers here, BKU's media in-charge Dharmendra Malik told PTI over the phone at around 5 am.
Meanwhile, mobile internet services were suspended in parts of the violence-hit district, where restrictions under CrPC section 144, which prohibits assembly of four or more people, has also been imposed, according to officials.
The UP Police took to Twitter early on Monday to describe the incident as unfortunate and said eight casualties have been reported till now as per the district administration.
ADG LO, ACS Agriculture, IG Range & Commissioner are on the spot & situation is under control. Adequate deployment has been done to prevent any untoward incident, it added.
While the BKU members were allowed to go to Banbirpur, a group of Congress leaders, including Priyanka Gandhi, kept waiting outside the village where they reached early Monday braving inclement weather.
Congress national secretary Dheeraj Gurjar told PTI at around 4.30 am that they wanted to meet the victims of the violence but have been stopped by police.
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