Sidhu, Cong MLAs detained in Chandigarh while protesting against UP violence

CHANDIGARH: Punjab Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu, along with several party MLAs, held a protest outside the Raj Bhavan here on Monday against the Lakhimpur Kheri incident in Uttar Pradesh.

Sidhu, other Congress legislators including Madan Lal Jalalpur, Gurpreet Singh and several members of the Punjab Youth Congress sat outside the residence of the Governor Banwarilal Purohit and raised slogans against the BJP.

They demanded the arrest of the son of Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra for his alleged involvement in the Lakhimpur Kheri incident.

Eight people were killed as violence erupted during a farmers' protest in Lakhimpur Kheri on Sunday, claiming the lives of both farmers and BJP workers ahead of a visit by Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya.

Of the eight dead, four were travelling in cars, apparently a part of a convoy of BJP workers who had come to welcome the minister.

They were allegedly thrashed to death. The four others were farmers, officials said.

An FIR has been registered against Mishra's son and several others in connection with the violence.

The protesters also condemned the detention of Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar's remarks allegedly against farmers.

On Sunday, Khattar talked about "tit for tat" during a meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Kisan Morcha in Chandigarh when he told the gathering to form groups of 500 to 1,000 and be prepared to even go to jail.

The Chandigarh police detained Sidhu and the other protesters and took them in a bus from outside the Raj Bhawan.