Priyanka bats for arrested member, attacks UP govt

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi on Sunday batted for congress member and activist Sadaf Jafar who is currently lodged in jail in charges of attempted murder and assault on public servants.

The activist’s bail petition was denied by a Lucknow court, which termed her offences under which she was booked, serious in nature.

“The UP government has crossed all limits of inhumanity. Congress activist Sadaf Zafar is clearly seen asking the police to arrest those who are spreading the violence.

“The police have put Sadaf in jail by making baseless allegations,” Gandhi tweeted as she reached Jafar’s house to meet her family members.

“Both of Sadaf’s children are eagerly awaiting the release of their mother. This insensitive government has separated children from their mother, old men from their children,” Gandhi said in another tweet.

Earlier, the Chief Judicial Magistrate Sudesh Kumar said Jafar is not entitled to bail as the “offences under which she has been booked” are serious in nature.

Sadaf Jafar, who is also a Congress spokesperson, was arrested while she was live on Facebook from the spot where the protests had gone violent.

Priyanka has extended her stay in Lucknow after her fracas with the state police on Saturday.

Priyanka will visit Uttar Pradesh’s Rae Bareli where she will meet the family of party leader Sunil Srivastava, who passed away after a prolonged illness on December 27. She will return to Lucknow later in the evening and her programme is reserved.

Before leaving for Rae Bareli, Priyanka held a meeting with party leaders over Saturday’s incident and discussed the future strategy of the party.

Senior Congress leaders Jitin Prasada, Acharya Pramod Krishnam, and Zafar Ali Naqvi visited the residence of Mohd Wakeel, who had been killed in the December 19 anti-CAA protests in Lucknow. He died due to a bullet injury.

The party sources said that it was decided that Priyanka would avoid another confrontation with the police and not visit the residence of Mohd Wakeel. A Congress delegation was sent instead.

It may be recalled that Priyanka was physically stopped by the state police from visiting the residence of retired IPS officer SR Darapuri, who is in jail for the anti-CAA protests.

Priyanka alleged that a woman cop had held her by the neck when she insisted on going to the Darapuri residence.

The Lucknow police vehemently denied the incident and said that the woman cop was merely doing her duty and Priyanka had not informed the police of her destination.

Later in the night, Priyanka managed to visit the Darapuri residence in Indira Nagar and met his family.

Expelled senior Congress leaders, who held a parallel foundation day function in Lucknow on Saturday, have decided to hold similar events in all districts and then a state-level conference in Uttar Pradesh’s Noida.

It seems that the battle for ‘real’ Congress has begun in Uttar Pradesh.

Former Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) president Arun Kumar Singh Munna said that difference of opinion had always been the hallmark of the Congress, but differences in ideology were never allowed.

“Some leaders in the party are making a joke of the Congress constitution. Injustice has been done to the ten senior party leaders who have been ‘expelled’ from the party. We will stand by them,” he said.

Expelled Congress leader Santosh Singh said that they had been expelled by those who have criminal antecedents. “This is the level of the disciplinary committee that does not even know the process of taking an action,” he said.

Former minister Satyadev Tripathi said that they would embark on a fresh battle to save the Congress from the elements who want to destroy the party.

Former MLC Haji Siraj Mehndi said that the fact that they were getting support from various districts indicated clearly that all was not well in the party.

Indo-Asian News Service