A day before his much-hyped visit to Azamgarh, AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh said he was going there on a fact-finding visit to find out ?the reasons behind Azamgarh being named in terror attack cases?. He said he would visit the families despite opposition because people of Azamgarh wanted him to be there and said that if the government imposed Section 144, he will go there alone.

This came even as the Ulema Council, a body of clerics formed in the backdrop of Batla House encounter just before the Lok Sabha elections last year, announced that it would not allow Singh to meet the families of those accused in terror attacks. Doubting Singh?s intentions, Ulema Council has called the visit an eyewash and declared that it will do its best to stop Singh.

Singh, however, said representatives of the families from Azamgarh met him and said no one visits them to listen to their problems. ?A number of people from the area claim they are innocent. Some had visited me a few months back. I can at least give them a patient hearing. I am just trying to find out what had happened in the past which led to Azamgarh being named in terror attacks,? said Singh.

The AICC general secretary, who was among the few Congress leaders to demand a judicial probe into the Batla House encounter and also to demand that the aggrieved must also be heard by the NHRC, said, ?I did raise the issue because people from Batla House in Delhi had doubts about the incident. I will go there and listen to all those who want to meet me.?

Asked about reports of opposition to his visit in Azamgarh and an advisory from the district administration recommending him not to visit the area, Singh said that fundamentalist forces, be it Hindus or Muslims, have always opposed the Congress so this opposition was no surprise to him. ?I will certainly go there because people want to meet me. In case the government invokes Section 144, I will go alone. I will listen to them and see if there is anything which the Centre or the state government can do,? said Singh. Singh will meet the families of youths named in terror cases in Sanjarpur on February 3 and in Mubarakpur on February 4.

Ulema Council chief Maualana Amir Rashadi, however, said: ?Entire Azamgarh is with us in opposing Digvijay Singh. They can shoot at us if they want, but we will not allow him inside Sanjarpur.?