Babbar, other Congress leaders held & released

Uttar Pradesh Congress president Raj Babbar and many senior party leaders were taken into preventive custody here on Monday when they were marching towards chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s office to demand his resignation over the Gorakhpur tragedy. They were released later.

Addressing the party workers, Babbar accused chief minister Yogi of trying to influence the probe by saying that disruption in oxygen supply was not responsible for the death of children.

Babbar and the other partymen staged a ‘dharna’ at the Mahatma Gandhi statue at GPO Park here on Monday. From there, they decided to march towards the chief minister’s office but police stopped them a few metres from the Vidhan Bhavan.

Soon, the partymen staged a sit-in on Vidhan Sabha Marg for about two and a half hours. Shouting slogans, they insisted on being allowed to proceed further.

Later, the police forced the party activists to lift the ‘dharna’, taking them in a preventive custody. The party activists were sent to Gosaiganj police station on outskirts of the state capital and released later in evening.

Earlier, addressing partymen at the GPO Park, Babbar said Yogi Adityanath was not coming out with facts on the fight against Japanese Encephalitis in Gorakhpur.

He said the UPA was in power at the centre from 2004 to 2014 and Yogi should clarify on how many occasions he took up the issue with the then union health minister. He should also clarify whether he met any of the 17 committees that visited Gorakhpur in connection with JE issue.