LUCKNOW: The next phase of the `jail bharo' agitation by the Congress against the Mulayam Singh Yadav Government would focus on the alleged political vendetta launched against the party leaders.

The party had singled out Kanpur, Rampur and Pratapgarh, where it was feeling the heat from the official machinery and Congressmen, including MLAs, had been arrested by the police allegedly on `trumped up' charges, Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee president, Salman Khurshid and Congress Legislature Party leader, Pramod Tiwari, told newsmen on Tuesday. The `success' of Monday's Vidhan Sabha gherao had `rattled' the government, they claimed.

Both leaders, who visited the imprisoned MLA, Sanjiv Daryabadi, in Kanpur said Mr. Daryabadi had been booked in three cases.

Mr. Daryabadi was arrested during the `jail bharo' agitation and the subsequent clash between Congress and Samajwadi Party workers.

Alleging that the Kanpur violence was instigated by the SP workers, Mr. Tiwari accused the Government of unleashing a `political vendetta' against the Congress workers. He said the other MLA from Kanpur, Ajay Kapoor, was also in jail.

`Elections rigged'

In Rampur, matters have come to a head following the SP candidate's victory in the recent Nagar Palika Parishad elections. Here the wife of former Congress MLA, Afroz Ahmed Khan, lost to the SP nominee. Mr. Khurshid alleged that the elections were rigged by the ruling party, and alleged that the police were harassing Mr. Khan and his family members.

According to the Congress leaders, a similar situation prevailed in Pratapgarh, where the PAC and police raided the residence of District Youth Congress president, Kapil Dixit, during the early hours on Monday and `misbehaved' with his family members.

He said the next stage of protest would be finalised in the meeting of the district and city unit chiefs at Lucknow on December 6 and 7.

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