By IANS,
Lucknow : Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Rajnath Singh will Monday visit Uttar Pradesh’s Etah jail where his party’s Pilibhit candidate Varun Gandhi is behind bars for his alleged inflammatory campaign speeches.
BJP workers will also demonstrate against the Mayawati-led state government for invoking the stringent National Security Act (NSA) against Varun Gandhi, who was moved from Pilibhit to Etah, 300 km away, last week.
After meeting Varun Gandhi, Rajnath Singh will address a public meeting in Etah, 300 km from the state capital, party workers said.
Unwilling to take any chances, Etah district magistrate Gaurav Dayal said the Rajnath Singh-Varun Gandhi meeting would be videographed for security reasons.
“We are all prepared to prevent any untoward incident. Additional security has been deployed in the district ahead of the meeting,” he said.
“Our national president will arrive in Etah Monday afternoon to protest the illegal detention of our young leader Varun Gandhi and the autocratic ways of functioning of the Mayawati government,” BJP leader H.N. Dixit told IANS.
Earlier, several party leaders, including M. Venkaiah Naidu, Kalraj Mishra and BJP state president Ramapati Ram Tripathi, had met Varun Gandhi,
During his Etah visit, Rajnath is also expected to target BJP’s rebel Kalyan Singh, who has announced that he would contest the Lok Sabha elections from the seat.