Cong plans protest during Modi, Abe visit to Varanasi

Varanasi: Congress on Thursday said it would stage demonstrations during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe to the temple town on December 12, to protest the slapping of stringent National Security Act (NSA) against its MLA Ajay Rai.

Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee president Nirmal Khatri told reporters here that the local party unit would stage protest on December 12. He, however, refused to disclose the nature of the protest.

Rai is presently lodged in jail. He was arrested for his alleged role in the violence that erupted on October 5 during a protest march of seers and locals. The seers and locals were protesting the police lathicharge on a rally on the intervening night of September 22-23 against ban on immersion of idols in Ganga river.

The Congress state president today held a meeting with leaders of 14 eastern Uttar Pradesh districts ahead of the 'padyatras' on Congress President Sonia Gandhi's birthday on December 9. This padyatras, aimed at highlighting public grievances, would conclude on December 31.