BSP delegation to visit Sonbhadra tomorrow, meet kin of victims

A Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) delegation led by senior leader Lalji Verma and state unit president RS Kushwaha will visit Sonbhadra on July 22 and meet the kin of victims of firing incident, the party said in a statement on Sunday.

"The delegation will apprise the national president Mayawati of the situation," it said in its statement.

"It has been the policy of BSP that it doesn't react to such incidents only for show-off but with an intention to help. That is why immediately after such incident when section 144 is in place and police action is going on, the party asks its leaders to avoid visiting the place because of apprehension that obstructing police action might harm the affected people itself," its statement added.

BSP said that with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath himself visiting the place, it is clear that the ban on visit of politicians has ended.

At least ten people including women were killed, while over 20 sustained injuries when a village headman and his associates allegedly opened fire at a group of people over a land dispute at Ubbha village in Ghorawal area in Sonbhadra district on July 17.

The incident took place when the village headman went to take possession of his land purchased two years ago.

Twenty-nine people have been arrested and four officials have been suspended in connection with the incident.

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, met the victims' families after a high voltage political drama.

Priyanka's visit had upped the temperature of the state politics after she was stopped from visiting the bereaved families and was put in detention in a guest house in the adjacent Mirzapur district.