Rahul Gandhi reaches Aligarh, meets kin of Hathras stampede victims

Aligarh: Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Friday met here the family members of those who lost their lives in the stampede in Uttar Pradesh's Hathras, according to Congress leaders.

Gandhi left from Delhi on Friday early morning by road for Hathras and was accompanied by state Congress chief Ajay Rai, state Congress in-charge Avinash Pande, party spokesperson Supriya Shrinate and other office bearers.

The senior Congress leader landed in Pilakhna village in Aligarh around 7.15 am after he left by road from Delhi. Later, Gandhi is scheduled to meet families of the stampede victims in Hathras's Vibhav Nagar area.

According to police, of the 121 people who died due to the stampede on July 2, 17 were from Aligarh and 19 were from Hathras.

"Rahul ji left for Hathras from Delhi at around 5.10 am (on Friday)," Rai told PTI.

Elaborating the senior Congress MP's schedule for the day, Rai said, "Rahul Gandhi will make a condolence visit to the family of the victims of the Hathras tragedy at Pilakhna in Aligarh. Later, he will meet the families of the victims at Green Park and Vibhav Nagar near Navipur Khurd in Hathras."

Rai had on Thursday told PTI that Gandhi will meet the family members of the victims of the Hathras stampede tragedy, which claimed the lives of 121 people at a religious gathering.

He had blamed the Uttar Pradesh government for the incident.

"The incident of Hathras is a failure of the UP government... Yesterday, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath visited Hathras and later Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak also went there. But they did not go together; this shows the infighting," Rai had said, while addressing the media at the state party headquarters here.

Congress demands immediate compensation

He had also reiterated the demand of the Congress for compensation of Rs 1 crore to the family of those who were killed in the stampede and Rs 25 lakh to the injured.

"We also want a judicial inquiry into the incident to be conducted by a sitting judge of the high court, not a retired judge," Rai had said.vThe Uttar Pradesh government on Wednesday formed a three-member judicial commission headed by a retired High Court judge to probe the Hathras tragedy, looking also into the possibility that a conspiracy was behind the stampede.

Don't want to politicize it, Rahul Gandhi

Leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Friday said there were lapses on the part of the administration in the Hathras stampede incident that killed over 100 people, but added that he did not want to make it "political".

Speaking to reporters after meeting the victims of the stampede in Uttar Pradesh's Hathras here on Friday morning, Gandhi said, "It is a matter of grief that so many families have suffered, so many people lost their lives."

"I don't want to speak from a political prism but there have been some lapses on the part of the administration," the senior Congress leader said.