Jharkhand Congress workers led by chief Rajesh Thakur leave for Lakhimpur Kheri

Congress workers led by Jharkhand unit chief Rajesh Thakur left for Lakhimpur-Kheri in Uttar Pradesh to support farmers and their leaders Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Rahul Gandhi.

Thakur said he would be joined by state ministers Banna Gupta and Badal Patralekh besides legislators and scores of party office bearers and workers.

“We are going there to support the farmers and strengthen the protest being led by our leaders Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Rahul Gandhi. The Uttar Pradesh government has been resorting to diversionary tactics from the farmers’ protest but we will not allow them to do that,” Thakur told reporters before leaving for UP.

Thakur claimed the Uttar Pradesh government was forced to set Priyanka Gandhi free from house arrest as they started feeling the heat when Congress workers began arriving in Lakhimpur-Kheri from across the country.

Reacting to the development, the BJP described it as ‘political tourism’ of the Congress ministers.

“State agriculture minister Badal Patralekh is very concerned about farmers in Uttar Pradesh, but he is least bothered about dues to farmers against paddy procurement and black marketing of fertilisers in Jharkhand,” Jharkhand BJP general secretary Aditya Sahu told reporters.