Lucknow, Aug 25 (IANS): The Congress party on Tuesday held demonstrations across the state at district headquarters and tehsils against the Akhilesh Yadav-led government in Uttar Pradesh.

The demonstrations were part of a five-day agitation that the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee has organised to highlight and oppose rising crime, poor power condition, recent cane-charge on party leaders and workers in Lucknow and non-payment of arrears of cane growers in Uttar Pradesh under Samajwadi Party-ruled state government.

According to Congress spokesman Surendra Rajput, protest programmes were organised in Bareilly, Lucknow, Sambhal, Budaun, Pilibhit, Shahjahanpur, Moradabad, Bijnore, Amroha, Rampur, Hardoi, Unnao, Faizabad, Barabanki, Ambedkarnagar, Gonda, Sultanpur, Balrampur, Santkabirnagar, Varanasi, Ghazipur, Allahabad, and Kannauj, among other places.

"While the state government has failed on all fronts, it is now even throttling the voice of democracy and is not even allowing the opposition to raise issues concerning the people," the Congress leader said.