The news of detention of Congress national general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra while going to Sonebhadra sparked state-wide protests by party workers, who also burned the effigies of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

As soon as news channels aired the news of Priyanka’s detention at Chunar guest house,  the Congress leadership asked party workers to stage protests across the state.

In Lucknow, Congress workers held a massive protest at the GPO roundabout. Senior leaders, including former MP Rajesh Mishra, MLA Aradhana Mishra Mona and MLC Deepak Mishra, along with senior leaders Vinod Kumar Mishra, Virendra Madan and others sat on dharna there.

The Congress leaders raised slogans against Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and demanded that Priyanka Gandhi Vadra be allowed to go to Sonebhadra.

“This is dictatorship of the Yogi government. The Congress leaders were going (to Sonebhadra) to meet the bereaved families of the massacre. They were not going there to incite violence. They were not carrying weapons. Still Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was not allowed to go there,” Aradhana Mishra `Mona’ said.

Later, the police resorted to mild lathicharge when the Congress workers tried to burn the effigy of the Chief Minister. The police also detained around 50 Congress leaders and workers when they refused to end their sit-in.

Similar protests by Congress leaders and workers were reported from different parts of the state. In Faizabad, former MP Nirmal Khatri along with his supporters were arrested.