Tight security for PM's Uttar Pradesh rally
Banda (Uttar Pradesh), April 30 (IANS) Over 700 police personnel have been deployed for security in Banda district of Bundelkhand region for a public rally by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi Saturday afternoon, officials said.
Manmohan Singh will land at Chakeri airport in Kanpur at around 3 p.m., from where he will fly to Banda in an Indian Air Force chopper. This will be the prime minister's first public meeting in Bundelkhand region after the surfacing of the 2G spectrum and Commonwealth Games scams.
According to Special Director General of Police Brij Lal, eight companies of Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) and over 700 police personnel are part of the security arrangements.
Activists of the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) say Manmohan Singh is expected to talk about the central government's financial assistance to Bundelkhand region, and could also raise the issue of deteriorating law and order in Uttar Pradesh.
"The rally would dispel the myth that Congress is not serious about the development of the state," state Congress president Rita Bahuguna Joshi told reporters here.
Uttar Pradesh will hold assembly elections in 2012.