Cong demands judicial probe into Lucknow riots

Lucknow, Mar 5 (UNI) The state unit of the Congress today demanded a judicial probe by a sitting High Court judge into Friday's communal violence in Lucknow.

Addressing a joint press conference, state Congress President Salman Khurshid and Congress legislature party leader Pramod Tiwari said only a judicial probe could unearth the real culprits ''behind the conspiracy''.

''Why police did not act for more than four hours when mob indulged in violence also needs to be probed,'' he said, adding that the Lucknow situation was similar to what happened in Gujarat some years ago.

The Congress leaders also gave an ultimatum of 48 hours to the district authorities to allow them to visit the troubled areas.

Earlier today, the Congress leaders were denied permission to visit the areas by the by the authorities.

Meanwhile, Mr Khurshid announced the names of eight senior leaders of the party, who were chosen by the AICC as in-charge at division level.

The decision was taken by AICC president Sonia Gandhi to decentralise organisation at ground level, Khurshid claimed.

The leaders are Rashid Alvi (Saharanpur-Meerut), Sanjay Singh (Moradabad-Bareilly), Nirmal Khatri (Allahabad-Mirzapur), Rajbahadur (Varanasi-Azamgarh), Rampujan Patel (Gorakhpur-Basti-Devipatan), Rita Bahuguna Joshi (Lucknow-Faizabad), RPN Singh (Kanpur-Agra) and Rajeshpati Tripathi (Jhansi-Chitrakoot).

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