FIR against Baghel in UP shows BJP frustrated: Cong

The Congress on Sunday called the FIR against Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel filed in Uttar Pradesh a sign of frustration of the Yogi Adityanath government.

Baghel and several others were booked on Sunday for allegedly violating Covid-19 safety protocol under the Epidemic Act while campaigning for the Congress in Noida ahead of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.

Party spokesman Sushil Anand Shukla said the Chief Minister followed the Covid-19 protocol during the door-to-door campaign and he was accompanied by five persons as allowed. Shukla said the FIR filed against him showed that the BJP was nervous with Baghel’s campaign in Uttar Pradesh.

“The BJP wants to go to any extent to stop Baghel from campaigning in UP. Earlier he was stopped at the Lucknow airport, he was stopped from going to Lakhimpur and now Yogi’s officer booked him in Noida,” said a Congress statement.

Shukla said Yogi and leaders of other parties have understood that the Congress is in a decisive position in Uttar Pradesh.

And so, the BJP is using all undemocratic ways to hinder Baghe’s election campaign in Uttar Pradesh, the statement said.