Sonbhadra Firing: Yogi Adityanath to meet victim’s kin on Sunday

Lucknow, July 20: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will visit Sonbhadra tomorrow to meet family members of the victims of Sonbhadra firing incident that claimed lives of 10 people.

Adityanath will first meet the bereaved families followed by a visit to the district hospital where injured are being treated. The CM will also address a press conference before coming back to Lucknow.

On July 17, a village head and his supporters allegedly opened fire on a rival group in a land dispute in Sonbhadra killing 10 people, including three women, and leaving 19 injured.

Adityanath's visit to the town comes amidst opposition's criticism that the state government had turned the town into a cantonment and was stifling democracy by preventing visits by the opposition leaders.

Questioning the reason behind Gandhi's detention at a guesthouse in Mirzapur district in Uttar Pradesh, Congress's chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the chief minister and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were afraid of her, adding, "The reign of Ajay Bisht (Adityanath) continues to be the most insensitive in memory."

"Adityanath has made Uttar Pradesh 'Apradh Pradesh'. The timeline of different incidents clearly shows that the BJP-led UP government is trying to protect the accused in the Sonbhadra clash," he told reporters here.

Surjewala accused Adityanath of "lying" that the previous Congress governments were responsible for the dispute that triggered Wednesday's violence in Sonbhadra.

The chief minister has blamed the previous Congress governments for the dispute, narrating how the piece of land over which the clash took place was bought and sold over the decades.