LUCKNOW: Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel sat on the floor of Lucknow airport premises near arrival after he was denied entry into the city on Tuesday afternoon.
He was supposedly planning to head towards Lakhimpur Kheri following the violence on October 3 afternoon.
Eight people were killed in Tikunia, including four farmers, two BJP men, one driver and one local journalist.
His chartered plane landed at the airport even after the Uttar Pradesh government chief secretary Awnish Awasthi gave written instruction to Lucknow airport to deny the arrival of Baghel, who is also the senior observer of the All India Congress Committee for the upcoming UP assembly elections.
At 12.17 pm, Baghel tweeted that "...I have left for Lucknow, justice will be done with farmers."
However, at 1.33pm, the Chhattisgarh CM shared his picture (of sitting on airport floor) and wrote on Twitter that he has been stopped from stepping outside the airport without any orders.
After the incident, the local administration rushed to talk with the Chhattisgarh CM.
In a video shared on social media, Baghel was seen asking the Lucknow administration as to "why he has been stopped at the airport when he is not heading to Lakhimpur Kheri. The CrPc 144 has been imposed in Lakhimpur not here."
Meanwhile, the former members of parliament P L Punia and Pramod Tiwari who were waiting outside to receive Baghel expressed their anguish over the administration not allowing Chhattisgarh CM to enter the city.
"The administration claimed that CrPc 144 has been imposed which won’t allow more than four people to gather at one place, but at airport only Pramod Tiwari ji and I were heading to receive the Chhattisgarh CM, Bhupesh Baghel. But we too have been denied to meet him. We are former MPs and responsible citizens but it’s very unfortunate that the administration is not listening to us. Baghel has been denied to step outside the airport," said P L Punia, former MP from Barabanki and in-charge of Chhattisgarh Congress unit.
Former MP Pramod Tiwari said, "Baghel was heading to Sitapur not Lakhimpur Kheri, but at the airport, we were told that he won’t be allowed to enter into Lucknow. Is there any threat from the CM of Chhattisgarh to UP? It seems that the current regime of state has turned dictator. Such orders of prohibiting two former MPs to meet Chhattisgarh CM and prevent him from entering into the city are undemocratic."
Later, Congress workers, led by Mamta Chaudhary, chief of party's women's wing in Lucknow, staged protest outside the airport.
