UP: Priyanka Gandhi spends night at Mirzapur guest house

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra who was prevented on Friday on her way to meet the families of those affected in the Sonbhadra firing case spent the night at a guest house here.

Priyanka, who was stopped in Narayanpur by police yesterday spent the night at Chunar Guest House.

Senior officials from the district administration met her tried to send her back to Varanasi and told her about the unavailability of air-conditioned room at the guest, however, however, she stood firm on her stand and told the officials that she won't leave without meeting the families of the victims.

The guest house where Priyanka had a power outage till late about 10 pm. Late at night, Congress party workers collected money and brought a generator on rent to ensure uninterrupted power supply at the guest house.

"The Uttar Pradesh government has sent ADG Varanasi Brij Bhushan, Commissioner Varanasi Deepak Agarwal, Commissioner Mirzapur, DIG Mirzapur for asking me to leave without meeting the victim families. They all are sitting with me for the last 1 hour. They have neither given any base nor any papers for keeping me under arrest," Priyanka had tweeted yesterday. She added in another tweet that she will not leave unless she met the families of the victims.

Outside Priyanka's room, police personnel maintained tight security vigil throughout the night while Congress workers slept on the floor, a little distance away.

The party workers sitting on dharna with her have maintained that the fight will continue till she is allowed to go and meet the victims of Sonbhadra firing incident.

Priyanka yesterday had said that she is ready to go to jail if the government puts her inside the prison for meeting families of those who were killed in the Sonbhadra on July 17. She further said that she will not furnish the bail amount at any cost.

"If the government wants to put me in jail for meeting the victims, I am fully prepared," tweeted Priyanka.

She further said that she will not pay the bail amount at any cost.

"I will not furnish the bail amount; I will not pay a single penny. I had said if Section 144 is imposed in Sonbhadra, I won't violate it, 2 people will go. But the action was taken. I have been kept here for the last 7 hours. I would not move without meeting them," said Priyanka.

The Sonbhadra firing incident took place in Ubbha village of Ghorawal where the village head went to take possession of his land purchased two years ago. However, he met with opposition from the villagers which triggered the firing allegedly by his aides leading to the deaths.