Priyanka leads `maun vrat’ to press for minister’s removal

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra led a ‘maun vrat’ in Lucknow on Monday in support of the party’s demand for dismissal of Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra Teni, whose son is accused of mowing down farmers with his SUV.

The Congressmen held ‘maun vrat’ all over the country, including all districts of Uttar Pradesh, to exert pressure on the ruling party to immediately sack Ajay Mishra Teni from the Union ministry for a fair probe into the Lakhimpur Kheri incident.

In Lucknow, the protest started on Monday morning and continued till late afternoon. The Congress leaders, including party’s state chief Ajay Kumar Lallu, former MPs Pramod Tiwari and PL Punia, Congress MLC Deepak Singh and Congress Legislature Party leader Aradhana Mishra sat on silent protest with Priyanka Vadra, carrying placards on which their demand for dismissal of the Union minister was written. The party leaders staged the ‘maun vrat’ at the foot of the statue of Mahatma Gandhi in the GPO Park.

Earlier, talking about the delay in the protest in Lucknow, Pramod Tiwari said that the police had asked them to change the time and venue of their dharna because the swearing-in of the new Chief Justice of Uttar Pradesh was scheduled to take place.

Priyanka has been leading a campaign against the accused in the Lakhimpur Kheri incident and was even arrested while she was on her way to meet the families of the deceased farmers.

In her rally in Varanasi on Sunday, she announced that she would continue the fight on the Lakhimpur Kheri incident until the Union minister stepped down from his post to pave the way for an impartial probe.