UP Minister Sidharth Nath Singh slams Congress march to Hathras, calls it ‘photo op’

New Delhi: UP cabinet minister Siddharth Nath Singh has said that by coming to UP, Congress leader just wants to politicize the issue. “Rahul Gandhi has a track record of getting busy in photo ops after returning from foreign countries”: this is how Uttar Pradesh minister Sidharth Nath Singh described the Congress leader’s attempt to visit the Hathras Dalit family on Thursday.

UP minister Siddharth Nath Singh calls it a drama and a photo opportunity by the Congress party and also slammed it for its selective outrage. He further clarified that Rahul Gandhi was not pushed or heckled but simply lost his balance and fell to the ground.

Rahul Gandhi and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, along with other party members, were arrested at Yamuna Expressway in Noida for attempting to visit Hathras allegedly without taking the administration’s permission. It is to be noted that Section 144 of CrPC has been imposed in Hathras.

“Rahul Gandhi has a track record that whenever he comes back from foreign, he gets busy in photo ops. Whatever is happening on Yamuna Expressway is a photo op. There is neither sympathy nor sensitivity,” Singh said during a press conference here.

Singh alleged that Rahul did not take permission to visit the victim’s family in Hathras.

“He did not follow any legal procedure. Did you (Rahul) take permission? You decide in the morning that today is my photo-op day. After doing a photo op you come back home,” Singh said.

Congress leaders Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, K C Venugopal and Randeep Surjewala were also detained by UP Police. They were taken to Buddh International Circuit in Gautam Buddh Nagar.

The 19-year-old had succumbed to assault injuries in Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital on Tuesday where she was brought on Monday from Aligarh Muslim University Medical College.

According to her post-mortem report, the death was caused by trauma due to her neck injury, police said.