Varanasi: Scores of Samajwadi Party leaders and office-bearers were placed under house arrest on Saturday before they could march to the Dalmandi area to engage with those impacted by the road widening project. Undeterred by the SP protest, PWD and Varanasi Municipal Corporation teams cleared debris from 50 buildings already razed or purchased.The SP high command had formed a delegation led by the leader of the opposition in the Vidhan Parishad, Lal Bihari Yadav, to meet locals and understand the problems being faced due to the project. Under this project, almost 50 of 187 identified buildings have already been demolished.A heavy police force was deployed at the circuit house to stop Lal Bihari, but he did not arrive. On landing at LBSI Airport, SP’s Chandauli MP Virendra Singh was stopped for several minutes to bar him from reaching Dalmandi. Other senior leaders, including former UP minister Surendra Patel, former MLA Abdul Samad Ansari, and office-bearers, were put under house arrest.ACP (law and order) Shiv Hari Meena said leaders named in the party’s delegation list were stopped from reaching Dalmandi as a preventive measure. SP leaders said they were stopped from visiting Dalmandi, where they wanted to meet locals about issues with the road-widening project, on Akhilesh Yadav’s directive. Samad Ansari called it a “strangulation of democracy” by the administration and police.Lalu Yadav, an office-bearer, managed to reach Dalmandi despite attempts to put him under house arrest. He accused the govt of suppressing opposition voices, saying SP will stand with the victims and keep raising their issues.A high-voltage drama unfolded at the Chowk entry point of Dalmandi, when another office-bearer, Puja Yadav, also managed to reach there. Women police officers had to be called as she refused to stop, and was eventually taken to Chowk police station.
