A DAY after the State Government made claims of foiling attempts to till the acquired Dadri land, former prime minister Vishwanath Pratap Singh and noted cine star Raj Babbar dodged the police and reached the site of the power plant this morning.
If sources in the Jan Morcha were to be believed, both Singh and Babbar ploughed the land acquired for the power plant at the Bajhera Khurd village.
Talking to Hindustan Times on telephone, Raj Babbar said he along with VP Singh accomplished the task of tilling the land. The police, however, later arrested them along withLalit Kala Akademi chairman Vijendra Pratap Singh and Kisan Manch leader Vinod Singh.
The arrest of Vijendra Pratap Singh comes as a big embarrassment to the State Government as he not only belongs to the ruling party but also holds the status of a minister of state. Secretary, Home, Arun Kumar Sinha, however, said the former PM and Raj Babbar only held a photo session on a tractor near the acquired land.
The orders of Allahabad High Court to maintain status quo on the acquired land had not been flouted, he said adding the arrests were made near Mirpur village under Pilakhua police station of Ghaziabad. They were taken to a guest house at Vashundhara in the district and released at about 1 pm, he said.
{{/usCountry}}The orders of Allahabad High Court to maintain status quo on the acquired land had not been flouted, he said adding the arrests were made near Mirpur village under Pilakhua police station of Ghaziabad. They were taken to a guest house at Vashundhara in the district and released at about 1 pm, he said.
{{/usCountry}}Sinha said the former prime minister along with Raj Babbar and others reached Bajhera Khurd village at about 9 am and had breakfast there. Later they had the photo session.
Later Rashtravadi Communist Party general secretary and MLA Kaushal Kishore said the Jan Morcha Alliance was committed to hand over the acquired land for the power plant back to the farmers.
He said the State Government should withdraw the case registered against the leaders or else a statewide agitation would be launched soon.