Political tourism shouldn't be played by Rahul Gandhi: BJP

New Delhi [India], May 27 (ANI): Slamming the opposition after Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi was denied to visit riot-hit Saharanpur, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday asserted that the former is a master in political tourism and photo ops which is why he decided to visit Saharanpur. "If Rahul Gandhi wants to do a political tourism and wants to do photo ops which he is known for then certainly the administration will not give him permission and we have seen that recently the permission was given to Mayawati but the situation worsened there. It was not the fault of the administration but on the leaders who go there like Mayawati- who made an aggressive pitch and that worsened the situation," BJP leader and Uttar Pradesh Cabinet Minister Siddharth Nath Singh told ANI. Singh further stated that Yogi Adityanath-led government in Uttar Pradesh will decide whether it would allow political tourism or not. "The idea is to control the situation and therefore the administration is free under Yogi's government to make a decision whether they will allow political tourism or not," he added. Resonating similar views, another BJP leader S. Prakash stated that playing politics in Saharanpur will only add fire to the situation. "In many Congress ruled states, the opposition party leaders prefer to visit those areas to find out the status. This visit has been denied on the law and order situation. Saharanpur needs to be brought back to normalcy, playing politics at this time will only add fire to the matter. It will be better for Rahul Gandhi choose to visit the place once the situation is cooled off and balanced," Prakash told ANI. After being denied permission to visit riot-hit Saharanpur, Gandhi yesterday vented his ire on the Centre while saying that latter is adopting the policy of 'divide and distract' as they have failed to deliver their promises. "When they fail to deliver they divide & distract. But anger and hatred will not convert into jobs or solutions," Rahul said in a tweet. Rahul was denied permission to visit Saharanpur where a caste conflict had erupted in which many Dalits were allegedly targeted. The confirmation of this development was given by Additional Director General of Police Law and Order Aditya Mishra to ANI. Gandhi was supposed visit Saharanpur to take stock of the prevailing situation. Clashes occurred on Tuesday after Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati's visit to Saharanpur, where one person was killed and several others were injured. The state government also announced to give compensation of Rs. 15 lakh to relatives of the person, who was killed during this incident. In the wake of clashes between two communities in Saharanpur, the Yogi Adityanath Government on Thursday transferred 174 Sub-Divisional Magistrates. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) also asked the Uttar Pradesh Government to submit report on the recent worrisome clashes in Saharanpur. Earlier, Saharanpur District Magistrate Nagendra Parsad Singh was sacked after he was unable to control the clashes between two communities in the area. On May 5, one person was killed and 16 people, including a head constable, were injured in clashes between the Dalits and the Rajputs in Shabbirpur and Simlana villages. Reports said that the police stopped the Maharana Pratap procession after some Dalits informed the police. This angered Rajputs, who allegedly resorted to violence. (ANI)