Rahul barred from visiting Kanpur by Maya

Kanpur, Oct 24: The political animosity between the Mayawati government and Congress came to fore once again, when the programme of party MP from Amethi Rahul Gandhi in Chandrashekhar Azad Agricultural University here was cancelled at the behest of the state government at the last moment.

Mr Gandhi, who was to hold interaction with the students, was not allowed to go to the pre-decided venue and had to converse with them at the canteen. University Vice-chancellor V K Suri confirmed the cancellation, but refused to cite reasons behind the move. It must have come as a shocker to the Congress leadership as only ten days ago, Rahul's mother and Congress president Sonia Gandhi was also denied permission to perform 'bhumi pujan' at the proposed Rail Coach Factory in her parliamentary constituency Rae Bareli on October 14.

As soon as Mr Gandhi landed at the Chakeri airport here, the Congressmen accompanying him were informed that his scheduled interaction with the students stood cancelled on the instructions of the state administration.

''We are specifically informed by the university authorities that the programme has been cancelled as per the instructions of the state administration,''state Congress spokesman Akhilesh Pratap Singh said.

Surprisingly, Kanpur Magistrate of Kanpur Anil Sagar was jittery when approached by this correspondent and said the state government had not instructed in this regard and the programme was on as per the schedule.

Asked how the programme could take place as the students had already been sent back and the Congress MP denied entry into university premises, the DM said ''How can we deny any MP entry wherever he wants to.'' He also had no answer as why Mr Gandhi was not allowed to speak to the students at the given venue.

The Congress leader in Amethi was on his day-long visit to the city during which he would address a dalit conference.

On inflationary pressures surmounting the country with the latest figures pegging at around 11.1 per cent, the Governor said while there were considerable uncertainties in the economy, it was important to remain focused on bringing down inflation to levels that are compatible with a high but stable momentum of growth in the economy and fiscal stability.

He said the RBI would endeavour to bring down inflation to a tolerable level of below five per cent at the earliest, while aiming for convergence with the global level at three per cent. ''Inflation in double digits is well beyond our tolerance levels and is clearly unacceptable,'' he said.

UNI