Akhilesh Yadav likely to visit Prayagraj today: Sources

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav is likely to visit Prayagraj on Thursday, according to sources, two days after former Uttar Pradeh chief minister on Monday alleged that he was being stopped at Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport in Lucknow by the police in a bid to prevent him from visiting the town to attend an oath-taking ceremony at Allahabad university.

"The government is so afraid of oath ceremony of a student leader that it is stopping me at the airport to prevent me from visiting Allahabad," Akhilesh said in Hindi on Twitter on Tuesday.

He also tweeted photographs in which he was seen talking to police officers inside the airport. Yadav had to attend an oath-taking ceremony at Allahabad university.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, however, maintained that the step was taken due to law and order situation. The Chief Minister claimed that the situation would have deteriorated had Yadav visited the university campus. “SP should refrain from its anarchist activities. Allahabad University requested that Akhilesh Yadav’s visit may create law & order problem because of the dispute between student organisations. Hence the government took this step,” Yogi was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.