Priyanka defends jailed UP Congress chief

New Delhi

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi has defended Uttar Pradesh party president Ajay Kumar Lallu, who is in judicial custody for an alleged forged list of buses which Priyanka had promised to the state government for ferrying migrants last month.

In an article in a newspaper, Priyanka Gandhi said: "This is 20th time that a scared government has taken him in custody and despite injustice and witch-hunt, he remains fearless and undefeated."

The Congress General Secretary alleged that Lallu was helping the poor "that is why he has been subjected to such injustice".

Lallu, an MLA from Tamkuhi Raj constituency in Kushinagar district, has been in the forefront of all Congress agitations in the state.

Lallu and others were booked by the Hazratganj police on May 19 for cheating and forging documents after the Uttar Pradesh government said about 100 vehicles on the Congress list were not buses and that most of them did not have either a fitness certificate or valid insurance papers. The Congress rejected the claim.

The controversy around the Congress list of buses had led to a major war of words between the Congress and the ruling BJP.

Lallu along with party workers staged a dharna on the Uttar Pradesh-Rajasthan border, where the party said it had lined up the buses to ferry the migrants.