'Governor directed Mayawati to probe lathicharge'

Congress on Tuesday said that the Uttar Pradesh Governor had directed Chief Minister Mayawati to order a probe into police lathicharge on people protesting against erratic power supply in Amethi even as ruling BSP accused the Congress of "exploiting" the situation in Rahul Gandhi's constituency.

Congress on Tuesday said that the Uttar Pradesh Governor had directed Chief Minister Mayawati to order a probe into police lathicharge on people protesting against erratic power supply in Amethi even as ruling BSP accused the Congress of "exploiting" the situation in Rahul Gandhi's constituency.

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Senior Congress leader, Pramod Tewari who met governor T V Rajeswar in Lucknow, said the latter told them that he had already taken up the issue with Mayawati who in turn had assured that a senior official, most likely in the rank of Home Secretary, would soon visit the district to probe the matter.

Last night, angry villagers of Amethi clashed with police to vent their anger over frequent power cuts. An unspecified number of policemen were injured after which the police resorted to lathicharge to disperse the crowd.

Tewari dubbed the police action as "barbaric and politically motivated" and alleged that police personnel had misbehaved with women. He appealed to the governor to release "innocent people who have been framed".

Shortly after the incident, the police had filed an FIR against 235 persons including 200 unidentified ones.

Meanwhile, BSP accused the Congress of exploiting the situation in Amethi as it blamed "previous" governments for the dismal power scenario in the state.

"The present problem is because of the apathy of the previous governments in the past 60 years who failed to take measures for improving power generation," the party said in a release.