Mirzapur, July 20: Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi spent the night at a guest house in Uttar Pradesh's Mirzapur where she has been detained by the police. Priyanka Gandhi was taken into preventive custody and escorted to the Charu guest house by the police on Friday after she insisted on proceeding to Sonebhadra district where 10 people were killed in clashes over a land dispute on Wednesday. There was no electricity at the guest house during Priyanka's night stay.

In a series of tweets, Priyanka said she would prefer to go to jail but won't leave without meeting the families affected by the Sonbhadra shootout. Braj Bhushan, Varanasi Additional Director General of Police, the district magistrate and the superintendent of police came at the guest house to persuade her against travelling ahead. However, the 47-year-leader has refused to leave without meeting the affected families. Crime Won't Be Controlled by Gagging Opposition's Voice, Says Congress.

"UP Government sent Varanasi ADG Brish Bhushan, Varanasi Commissioner Deepak Agrawal, DIG Mirzapur to tell me that I should leave without meeting the affected families. They are sitting here since the last one hour. They have not explained why they have taken me in custody, they have also not handed me any papers," Priyanka, who is the Congress in-charge of eastern UP, wrote in one of the tweets in Hindi. Kisan Congress to Hold Nationwide Protest Against Priyanka Gandhi's Arrest.

Priyanka Gandhi's tweet:

"I told them clearly that I did not come here to break any laws but came only to meet the affected families. I have told them I won't go without meeting the affected families," she said in another tweet. "If the government wants me to sent in jail for committing the crime of meeting victims, then I am ready for that as well," she added. Priyanka also described the killings of the members of the Gond tribe as "massacre".

At least 10 people, including three women, died and over 24 were injured in a clash between Gond and Gujjar communities over a land dispute in Sonebhadra on Wednesday. All India Mahila Congress chief Sushmita Dev and Delhi Mahila Congress Chief Sharmishta Mukherjee were heading toward Mirzapur to join Priyanka Gandhi.

Priyanka's brother and senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi described her detention as "disturbing". "This arbitrary application of power, to prevent her from meeting families of the 10 Adivasi farmers brutally gunned down for refusing to vacate their own land, reveals the BJP government's increasing insecurity in UP," Rahul tweeted.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 20, 2019 08:37 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).