New Delhi, June 6 (IANS): Stressing on the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi to stand for a cause even if being oppressed, Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Saturday slammed the Uttar Pradesh government over the arrest of UP party chief Ajay Kumar Lallu for serving the people amid the nationwide lockdown last month to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.

"Gandhiji taught us that oppressors will stop you from doing good work. But one should stick to his karma and follow the path of truth. UP Congress President Ajay Lallu was jailed for serving. We are opposing this repression through Seva Satyagraha," Priyanka Gandhi, who is also the in-charge for eastern Uttar Pradesh, said in a tweet in Hindi.

The party has launched Sewa Satyagrah across the state pressing the demand for Lallu's release. On May 20, after a standoff between the state government and the Congress over the party's offer to run 1,000 buses to ferry migrant labourers, Lallu was arrested twice in Agra. He was first arrested for sitting on a dharna against the Yogi Adityanath administration for not granting permission for the buses to ply.

Though he was granted bail by an Agra court and released, he was arrested soon after in connection with another case filed in Lucknow regarding alleged forgery of the documents of the buses. After being brought here from Agra, Lallu was produced before a court which sent him to 14 days' judicial custody. He has been in jail since May 21.

His bail plea was rejected by a special MP-MLA court in connection with the alleged forgery of the documents of the buses his party arranged for ferrying stranded migrant workers.