Meets Rahul Gandhi and his rustic new pals

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi Monday took an eight-member delegation of farmers from Bhatta Parsaul village in Greater Noida to meet prime minister Manmohan Singh over controversial land acquisition and alleged that atrocities were committed on the villagers by the Uttar Pradesh government.

Rahul highlighted the alleged atrocities on the farmers and the prevailing lawlessness.

The Congress general secretary said the prime minister gave them  a "patient hearing" “They wanted to meet the prime minister, which I facilitated,” Gandhi said, while highlighting the “atrocities” against the farmers.

“Poor people are being brutalised. Women are being raped and houses are being destroyed. I am quite concerned about the situation and it is still pretty bad. There was a pile of ashes in the villages of Parsaul and Bhatti,” Gandhi said.

Recently, the PM had said that the government was actively working on the bill on land acquisition and would be tabled in parliament in the ensuing monsoon session.

Four people, including two policemen, were killed May 7 when villagers clashed with the state police and PAC  for higher compensation for their lands acquired by the Uttar Pradesh government for development projects.

—WIth Agency inputs