Supporters, police clash after Sonia gives a miss

Congress supporters, mainly women, were involved in a clash with the police after Sonia Gandhi's motorcade sped past them on its way to Rae Bareli.

Police used batons to disperse the supporters who had blocked the highway at Mohanlalganj, about 25 km from the Capital.

Congress workers threw stones at vehicles damaging some buses. Several people, including police personnel, were injured in the scuffle as the crowd tried to get close to Sonia on the Lucknow-Allahabad highway, police said.

They wanted the Congress chief to address them, and but the motorcade sped by and Gandhi only waved, they said.

The Congress activists and locals then squatted on the road forcing police to use truncheons to break them up.

Later, UPCC chief Salman Khurshid met them in person in efforts to calm the frayed tempers.