Click to play videoRae Bareli: Congress President Sonia Gandhi has dared Mayawati, saying she is ready to go to jail if the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister tried to stop her from entering her constituency, Rae Bareli.
Sonia declared that Rae Bareli belongs to the Gandhis and nobody can stop her from visiting the place.
“Rae Bareli is my karmabhoomi (work place). How can some one stop me from coming to my home? Rae Bareli and Amethi are the karmabhoomi of the Gandhis. Nobody can stop our entry into our karmabhoomi,” Sonia thundered at Lalganj on Tuesday where she had come to inaugurate the Lifeline Express.
“I am ready to go to jail,” she added.
Mayawati had raised the political temperature first by cancelling land allotted to a rail factory that Sonia was to inaugurate in Rae Bareli.
Then the Congress alleged that Rae Bareli district administration changed Sonia's route and did allow the Congress President to go to the disputed rail coach factory site, which is unprecedented, since the route of an Special Protection Group (SPG) protectee is not decided by local authorities but by the SPG itself.
Sonia had to cancel her plans to address a rally and perform Bhoomi Pujan for the rail coach factory in her Lok Sabha constituency after Mayawati government clamped prohibitory orders in the area.
The orders were imposed under Section 144 of the Indian Criminal Procedure Code in Rae Bareli, which prevents the gathering of more than five people in the area.
The move came after the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court stayed the state government's decision cancelling the land allotment for a railway project in the area.
The court on Monday ordered status quo on the land while hearing a writ of Northern Railway (NR) and a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) by villagers of Rae Bareli. The court has given a week's time to the state government to file a counter affidavit.
Railways moved the high court seeking a stay on the UP government's decision to withdraw the land. Villagers and farmers of Lalganj also filed a PIL stating that the move of the state government would deprive the region of better development and job opportunities.
A division bench comprising Justice Pradeep Kant and Shabiul Hasnain, while ordering that status quo be maintained, listed the matter for further hearing October 22.
UP government had on Saturday night taken back the 400 acres it had allotted to the railways for the project.
(With inputs from Pallavi Ghosh)
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