Punjab Chief Minister Denied Permission For Visit To UP's Lakhimpur Kheri

Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi was denied permission to visit Lakhimpur Kheri while his deputy Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and some Congress MLAs were "detained" after they were stopped at the Haryana-UP border.

Mr Channi, meanwhile, urged PM Narendra Modi to impress upon the UP government for taking firm steps in ensuring justice to the victim families of the Lakhimpur Kheri incident and also reiterated the need to repeal the Centre's three contentious farm laws.

Farmers in Punjab and Haryana held demonstrations at many places against the incident and took out protest marches, demanding the arrest of the son of Union minister Ajay Mishra.

The protesters also burnt effigies of the BJP governments at the Centre and UP.

Punjab Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu, along with several party MLAs, held a protest outside Punjab Raj Bhavan here against the Lakhimpur Kheri incident.

The Aam Aadmi Party and the Shiromani Akali Dal also said they will be sending delegations to UP.

The Punjab Chief Minister was denied permission, citing imposition of Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code, which prohibits the assembly of four or more people.

The UP authorities informed the Punjab Civil Aviation Director that it was not feasible to grant permission to the chief minister and his deputy keeping in view the law and order situation, an official said.

The Punjab Civil Aviation Director had sought permission for the landing of the Chief Minister's chopper at Lakhimpur Kheri, a spokesperson said.

Mr Channi had planned to visit Lakhimpur Kheri to meet families of the farmers killed in violence during a protest over Uttar Pradesh Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya's visit there on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister Randhawa and a few Congress MLAs were stopped at the Haryana-Uttar Pradesh border.

A convoy of Mr Randhawa was stopped, after which he and the party MLAs sat on the road in protest.
After removing them from the road, the UP Police "detained" them.

They were taken to the police post, Shahjhapur, in Saharanpur, said a Punjab government statement.

Reacting to the detention of Mr Randhawa and MLAs, Mr Channi asked why Congress leaders are not being allowed to enter UP.

"Our Deputy CM @Sukhjinder_INC & MLAs have been detained at the UP Haryana Border. I condemn such tyranny being done by the UP Govt (sic)," Mr Channi tweeted.

Mr Randhawa, who also holds the home affairs portfolio, was accompanied by Punjab Congress working president Kuljit Nagra, MLAs Kulbir Zira, Angad Saini, Parminder Singh Pinki, Kuldeep Vaid and Barindermeet Singh Pahra.

He criticised the UP government for not allowing them to go to Lakhimpur Kheri.

The deputy CM dubbed the incident as a "massacre" of farmers and likened it to the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh tragedy.

Earlier in the day, the Uttar Pradesh government requested the Lucknow airport authorities not to allow the arrival of the Punjab deputy chief minister in view of the violence.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) spokesperson Raghav Chadha said a delegation of his party is going to Lakhimpur Kheri in protest against the incident.

The delegation comprises Chadha, Harpal Singh Cheema, MLA Baljinder Kaur and the party's farmer wing president Kultar Singh Sandhwan.

The party's Punjab unit chief and Sangrur MP Bhagwant Mann said, "Whatever has happened at Lakhimpur Kheri is the limit of oppression."

Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal said a delegation of his party, led by senior leader Prem Singh Chandumajra, had left for Lakhimpur Kheri to meet families of farmers and will seek a free and fair probe into the "barbaric attack".

He also said his party will hold an emergency meeting of its core committee on Tuesday to finalise its next course of action after hearing the report of the party delegation.

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

Four of the dead were people in the cars, apparently a part of a convoy of BJP workers who had come to welcome the UP minister.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)