UP violence: Congress leaders Priyanka, Rahul Gandhi allowed to visit Lakhimpur Kheri site

The police had detained Priyanka Gandhi Vadra while she was on her way to Lakhimpur Kheri district of Uttar Pradesh on Monday.

The Uttar Pradesh government on Wednesday allowed Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra along with three others to visit the Lakhimpur Kheri site where eight people died on Sunday, including four farmers who were allegedly mowed down by a convoy of cars while they were holding protests.

Reportedly, Mr Gandhi and Ms Gandhi Vadra will visit Choraha to meet the family members of one of the deceased farmers, Lovepreet Singh, 19, after which they will meet another deceased, Raman Kashyap's family at Nidhasan and then travel to Nanpara.

The Uttar Pradesh police had so far blocked opposition leaders from travelling to Lakhimpur Kheri to visit the families of the four farmers who were run over by vehicles, one of which was allegedly driven by Union Minister of state for home Ajay Mishra Teni's son, Ashish Mishra. The police had detained Priyanka Gandhi while she was on her way to Lakhimpur Kheri district of Uttar Pradesh on Monday. She alleged that she was detained without any arrest warrant for over 24 hours by the Uttar Pradesh government and was also mishandled by the cops.

A team of the Aam Aadmi Party led by MLA Raghav Chadha has also been given permission to visit the incident site, reported NDTV. They were detained yesterday evening around 15 km from Lakhimpur Kheri. Earlier today, Rahul Gandhi addressed a press conference in Delhi and condemned the government's actions on the way the situation has been dealt with so far. He called it "a systematic attack on farmers" and pointed out "there used to be democracy (now) there is dictatorship in India..."

Hours after the press conference Mr Gandhi along with Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and his Punjab counterpart Charanjit Singh Channi, and two others were reportedly briefly stopped from boarding their Delhi-Lucknow flight. Later, they were permitted to board the flight.