Priyanka Gandhi will visit Umbha to meet families of Sonbhadra massacre victims today

Sonbhadra: Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will visit Umbha village in Sonbhadra, on Tuesday to meet the families of the victims who were killed in firing on July 17 over a land dispute.

The preparations for her visit have been made by the local Congress unit, Hindustan Times reported.

District administration has also confirmed her schedule. She would be reaching the village on Tuesday afternoon.

Priyanka is expected to spend more than an hour in the village meeting the family members of the victims.

She was denied permission to visit the village on July 19 as she was detained and taken to Chunar fort where she staged a protest. She met the kin of the families of the deceased the next day at the fort.

Priyanka had then said, “I will visit the village in near future.”

She had announced that the Congress would provide Rs 10 lakh each to the families of those killed. A delegation of Congress provided a cheque of Rs 10 lakh each to the families of the victims and a cheque of Rs 1 lakh each to those injured in the firing.

On July 17, 10 people of Umbha were killed and 21 others were injured in firing over the land dispute.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party blamed the Congress for doing cheap politics on the issue.

BJP state spokesperson Dr Chandramohan said the land dispute had begun in 1955 during the rule of Congress when the lease of the land was done in the name of a private society.

Not only in Sonbhadra, but there had also been loot of the land in several other areas during the rule of Congress.

He alleged that Congress knows only politics of loot. The SP and The BSP are its equal partners in this loot of the Congress.