Hours after Rahul Gandhi stopped at Sarahanpur border, Akhilesh Yadav denied entry to visit riot-hit district

Sarahanpur: Samajwadi Party chief and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav was on Saturday denied permission to enter the riot-hit Saharanpur district, hours after Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi was stopped at the outskirts of the border.

After being denied to visit Shabbirpur village, which has been seeing clashes between two communities, Rahul blamed the Yogi Government for failing to establish law and order in the state.

"In today's India, there is no place for poor people. The government has failed on law and order in Uttar Pradesh. The role of the government is to provide safety to all citizens of the nation but the government failed to do so," Gandhi said.

"The Uttar Pradesh administration asked me to leave. They will later take me to the village once the situation becomes stable," he further said.

However, the police did try to stop the Congress vice-president but the latter adamantly reached the clash-affected area to take stock of the situation.

The Congress vice-president was yesterday denied permission to visit the clash-affected district where a caste conflict had erupted in which many Dalits were allegedly targeted.

Meanwhile, the police have appealed the political parties not to visit the village until the situation is normalised.

"We have requested all political parties not to visit the state until the situation is brought back to normal in Saharanpur." Additional Director General of Police Law and Order Aditya Mishra told ANI.