Yogi Adityanath to visit village in Sonbhadra today
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is slated to visit Sonbhadra on Sunday after a spiralling political row was formed over the deaths of 10 people who were killed in a shootout this week over a land dispute. The chief minister will visit the Ubbah village in Sonbhadra district to meet the families of people who were killed. Later in the day, Yogi Adityanath will address a press conference at the district collectorate.
After an overnight stay at the Mirzapur guesthouse, Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi had met families of some of the victims on Saturday.
A three-member TMC delegation had also spent a day at the Varanasi airport on Saturday after being stopped by Uttar Pradesh police from going to the Sonbhadra village.
The TMC parliamentary delegation, led by Derek O'Brien and comprising Sunil Mondal and Abir Ranjan Biswas, first protested inside the airport, but later sat on the floor outside after they were detained and stopped from visiting the village, where prohibitory orders under Section 144 have been imposed.
O'Brien provided updates on the TMC protest through the day on his Twitter handle. He also posted a video of his interaction with Gandhi at the airport.
In the evening, he said the 'dharna' was over.
The TMC decision to meet those injured and their families in the clash assumes significance amid an intensified political bickering and violence between the TMC and the BJP since the Lok Sabha election in which the saffron party made significant inroads in West Bengal.
The BJP emerged as the main opponent of the ruling TMC in West Bengal after it won 18 of the 42 seats in the state in the 2019 general election, up from two it won in 2014 polls.
UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and his West Bengal counterpart and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee had attacked each other during the election campaign in the eastern state.
"The BJP indulges in hooliganism and disrupts 'good governance' every day in Bengal. The same BJP in UP don't allow a delegation of Opposition MPs to even meet, build confidence & comfort grieving families of tribals massacred over land rights," O'Brien said.
He said the UP government officials did not tell him under which rule the delegation was stopped from visiting the village.
He suggested the officials told the delegation, "(Doing as told from topmost)."
"We have told them that we will cooperate, wish to meet injured & then proceed to Sonbhadra to meet and give confidence to grieving families (sic)," the TMC leader said.
Ten people were killed and 28 injured in the clash between supporters of village head Yagya Dutt and Gond tribals over a piece of land on Wednesday.
Dutt's supporters allegedly opened fire on the tribals resisting their attempt to take control of the disputed land.
Twenty-nine people, including Dutt and his brother, have been arrested.
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