Police jeep hits vehicle that Priyanka drove

AMETHI - A police jeep escorting Priyanka Gandhi hit a green Qualis that was part of her cavalcade here. The vehicle is said to be her brother and Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi’s favourite and had been driven by Priyanka just a day earlier.

Though the rear portion of the Qualis was damaged, no one was injured in the accident, which took place in Amethi’s Gauriganj town in Sultanpur district, about 150 km from state capital Lucknow. Priyanka was not in the vehicle.

“At the time of the accident, Rahul’s representative in Amethi K.L. Sharma and two others were sitting in the Qualis, while Priyanka was in a bullet-proof Safari that was much ahead of it,” a Congress functionary said. Rahul is the Amethi MP.

“Even though the vehicles in the cavalcade braked, the driver of the police jeep failed to control his vehicle and it hit the Qualis, which Rahul prefers to use during his tour in Amethi,” he added.

Even as the Congress activists described the incident as “a serious security lapse”, police authorities termed it as a “minor incident that should not cause any security concern”.

“The issue is serious. How the police jeep that belonged to the Gauriganj Station House Officer (SHO) lost control and hit the Qualis is a matter of concern and definitely raises a question mark over the security arrangements by the local police,” Congress spokesperson A.P. Singh told reporters.

But Satyendra Veer Singh, superintendent of police Sultanpur, said: “It all happened to save a mentally retarded women who suddenly came in the way of the cavalcade.

“In order to save her, the vehicles in the convoy applied sudden brakes, as a result the police jeep that was just behind the green Qualis dashed against it. It was a minor accident.”

Priyanka had driven the Qualis in Amethi Friday with Rahul sitting next to her. They were here to evaluate the work of self-help groups. While Rahul left for Delhi Friday evening, Priyanka Saturday visited a number of villages in Amethi.

She interacted with members of self-help groups in Khalispur village in Fursatganj town. In the Mahadeva village of the Musafirkhana town, she attended a marriage reception an employee of her husband Robert Vadra, who too arrived in Amethi this afternoon.