THE SAMAJWADI Party activists today went berserk at income tax offices in Lucknow, Varanasi, Allahabad, Kanpur, Gorakhpur and some other places in the State in protest against I-T notice to superstar Amitabh Bachchan on his sunglasses allegedly costing Rs 2.5 lakh.
In Lucknow, the Samajwadi Party activists marched from the city unit to Vidhan Bhawan and burnt the effigy of AICC president Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The members of the Samajwadi Yuvjan Sabha and Samajwadi Chattra Sabha joined them. The SP leaders alleged that the Central Government was harassing Bachchan.
The SP workers then marched to the Income Tax office on the Ashok Marg and made a bid to enter the premises. As the gates were closed, the SP workers scaled the boundary wall of the office. Some of them meanwhile squatted on the road.
In Allahabad, the Samajwadi Party Yuvjan Sabha leaders and activists forced their way into the Income Tax Department office. They damaged the IT commissioner’s car, broke flowerpots and pulled down the nameplates of some officials.
Angry SP leaders used un-parliamentary language and raised slogans against UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, PM Manmohan Singh and the Finance Minister P Chidambaram.
{{/usCountry}}Angry SP leaders used un-parliamentary language and raised slogans against UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, PM Manmohan Singh and the Finance Minister P Chidambaram.
{{/usCountry}}Angry Income Tax Department employees retaliated by hurling stones at the agitationists. Five persons, including the district president of Yuvjan Sabha Ravindra Yadav, were injured. The police, who reached the spot, said action would be taken against those who created a ruckus at the IT office.
Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party leader KK Srivastava denied the hand of party activists in the incident. “They were all fans of Amitabh Bachchan and were upset over the harassment of superstar by the IT department”, he said.
In Varanasi, the members of SP traders’ organisation organised a protest near the Income Tax office expressing their anger over the notice slapped on Bachchan.
The traders, wearing goggles carrying fake price tags between Rs one lakh to Rs three lakh, staged a demonstration at Maidagin crossing.