Gujarat cops misquoted, says Jaitley

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Arun Jaitley on Sunday disputed the claims that top officials of the Gujarat Police were against Narendra Modi’s rally at Beniyabagh in Varanasi.

“I personally and along with me, Amit Shah repeatedly spoke to Gujarat Police officers who were there. They went to the District Magistrate and said we have no objection, please allow this rally,” Jaitley said, adding that Gujarat Police personnel were being misquoted.

Speaking to senior journalist Karan Thapar on Headlines Today, Jaitley said, “This is a factually incorrect statement communicated to Election Commissioner H S Brahma.”

Brahma on Friday said that the district administration of Varanasi had also taken into account the opinion of a senior police officer from Gujarat, who was member of the advance security liaison team, that Beniyabagh was too congested a place to hold a rally, which would be addressed by Modi.

Brahma had quoted the Gujarat Police official as having said that it would “not be possible” to hold a rally at the venue as it was “highly congested” and “complicated”.