Youth Cong workers take out march to CM's residence in Patna over 'voter theft'

Patna, Sep 23 (PTI) Youth Congress workers in Bihar on Tuesday took out a march to the chief minister's residence here to protest against alleged vote theft and leasing out land to a business house at a throwaway price.

Led by Youth Congress national president Uday Bhanu Chib, the procession began at Sadaqat Ashram, the Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee headquarters, but was stopped at Raja Pul, about a kilometre away from the CM's residence.

Barricades were put up by police to prevent entry into the restricted area, and several youth Congress workers were rounded up by police during the march to the chief minister's house.

Chib and his colleagues lay down on the road in protest and cried "vote chor gaddi chor", a slogan popularised by Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, while being picked up by the police.

They were bundled into vehicles that carried them to the police station concerned.

"We are soldiers of Rahul Gandhi ji. Prime Minister Narendra Modi cannot scare us", Chib screamed while being dragged into a bus.

According to Patna (Central) Superintendent of Police Diksha, "the protesters were taken into custody as they were trying to enter a prohibited area. The situation was brought under control without taking recourse to baton charge or water cannons".

Earlier, Chib told reporters that their protest was against "the leasing out of over 1,000 acres of land in Bhagalpur district to the Adani Group for just one rupee per annum".

The Bihar government, on its part, has been claiming that there was no irregularity, and Adani Group has been awarded the contract for setting up a power plant in Bhagalpur after it agreed to provide electricity to consumers at a much lower rate than other bidders.

However, Chib maintained "the deal will not just put a strain on the state's finances, but also put at risk ecological balance. Thousands of trees are to be felled for the project. But Modi fears no public backlash as he believes he will continue to win elections by stealing votes". PTI SKS PKD NAC BDC