Protest against inflation: Party workers ‘lathi-charged’, claims Cong

The UPCC claimed that the Congress protesters were lathi-charged and detained while they were protesting as part of the party’s nationwide “inflation-free India campaign”.

Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) leaders and workers held a protest here over price rise on Thursday. Afterwards, they said that the police lathi-charged party workers and detained some of them.

The police used force on party workers as they marched towards the Raj Bhawan as part of the campaign and detained several of them, said a UPCC press release. (HT)

In a statement issued in the evening, the UPCC claimed that the Congress protesters were lathi-charged and detained while they were protesting as part of the party’s nationwide “inflation-free India campaign”.

Police used force on party workers as they marched towards the Raj Bhawan as part of the campaign and detained several of them, the party release issued here said.

Former MP Pramod Tiwari, Congress legislature party leader Aradhana Mishra ‘Mona’, MLA Virendra Chaudhary, former minister Naseemuddin Siddiqui and several party leaders started a march from the state party headquarters but were stopped on the way. The authorities had put up barricades, leading to an argument with policemen deployed there, the release said.

With the workers insisting on going beyond the barricading, police resorted to a lathi-charge, in which many workers suffered injuries, the party claimed.

The Congress said several party men were detained and taken to the Eco Garden, where senior Congress leaders submitted a memorandum addressed to the President to press for the demand of reducing inflation.

Aradhana Mishra alleged that despite the availability of cheap crude oil in the international market, the BJP government was selling petrol and LPG at a premium. People were worried about unemployment and no increase in income but the BJP government was filling its treasury all over the country, she said.