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Amidst controversy over the alleged meeting of Uttar Pradesh Congress president Ajay Kumar Lallu and media chairman of UPCC Naseemudin Siddiqui with Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, the party workers and leaders staged a protest against “irregularities” in the purchase of land by Shree Ram Mandir Trust in Ayodhya.
Meanwhile, amidst speculations regarding Lallu and Siddiqui quitting the Congress, the workers and leaders staged a demonstration at all district headquarters in Uttar Pradesh demanding a probe into the alleged corruption in the purchase of land by Shree Ram Mandir Trust in Ayodhya.
The party leaders, led by district president Ved Prakash Tripathi and city presidents Ajay Srivastava ‘Ajju’ and Dilpreet Singh, were going to give a memorandum to the President of India through the district magistrate of Lucknow when they were intercepted by the police. As they tried to move ahead, the cops used force after which the Congressmen staged a sit-in in front of the Health Directorate.
The cops caned the workers to disperse them and also arrested several of them, including Tripathi, Srivastava and Singh. Through their memorandum, the party demanded that the matter be investigated under the supervision of a Supreme Court judge and the guilty be brought to the books.
Earlier this week, former UPA minister Jitin Prasada left the Congress to join BJP. Demanding immediate removal of Lallu from the party, former MLC Siraj Mehdi claimed that at the behest of Priyanka Gandhi’s secretary Sandeep Singh, ten veteran Congress leaders, including him, were expelled from the party without any reason. He said that more than a year and a half has passed since then but none of the expelled leaders met any other party leader in search of greener pastures as they were committed Congressmen, but now those leading the party in the biggest state going to polls just few months from now met the SP chief to look for lucrative alternatives.
“The party is already at the bottom and at least now, Sonia Gandhi should identify those who care for the Congress and others who are playing into other parties’ hands to finish the oldest political outfit,” Mehdi said, demanding immediate removal of Lallu to save the Congress.
Sources said that an Urdu daily published a news report that Lallu and Siddiqui met Akhilesh Yadav and the UPCC chief made no denial in this regard. A senior party leader, however, claimed that the two met Yadav at the behest of Priyanka Gandhi, who is once again looking for an alliance with the SP for the 2022 assembly elections.