By IANS,
Lucknow : The Uttar Pradesh government and the railways Wednesday denied Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani permission to hold a rally at Mughal Sarai in the state, the next stop of the Jan Chetna Yatra that started in Bihar the day before.
Mughal Sarai was where Advani was to hold his first rally in the state. Officials said that the Indian Railways had said no for a rally to be held on a ground belonging to it and the Mayawati government followed suit.
“When the owner of the proposed venue has disallowed the rally, then the permission granted by us for the show is bound to be cancelled,” said an official spokesperson.
Railway authorities had earlier told the organisers that they could not permit any political rally to be held on railway property.
Reacting sharply, the BJP leadership trained its guns on both the Congress and the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).
“The railway ministry’s sudden change of mind reflects the thinking of the UPA leadership that cannot digest the extent of support that the Advani yatra has evoked among common people,” said a BJP spokesperson.
“But let the UPA be warned that their act of cowardice will not deter us from going ahead with the yatra that is aimed at spreading the word about rampant corruption at the highest levels under the Congress-led dispensation,” he added.
Advani Tuesday started a 12,000-km yatra that will take him to 100 districts across the country.