Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday reached Churachandpur town in Manipur, the epicentre of the ethnic violence in the state, on a helicopter after the state police blocked his convoy midway fearing violence. The former Congress MP visited relief camps in Churachandpur, news agency PTI said citing officials.

Rahul arrived in Imphal today morning on a two-day visit to the violence-hit state. High drama ensued as Rahul’s convoy made its way to Churachandpur as the police stopped his convoy after it had travelled 20-25 km. Rahul then returned to Imphal where he took a chopper to reach the designated location of his visit.

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“Seeing the ground situation, we stopped him (Rahul Gandhi) from moving forward and advised him to travel to Churachandpur via helicopter. There is a possibility of a grenade attack along the highway through which VIP Rahul Gandhi is moving. Keeping his security and safety in mind, we’ve not allowed him,” said Bishnupur SP Heisnam Balram Singh.

The decision of the Manipur police to stop Rahul’s convoy near Bishnupur came in for severe flak from the Congress which said that the government, insensitive to the situation in Manipur, was not allowing others to offer a healing touch.

, however, questioned the decision by the police and said he failed to understand why the cops had stopped the convoy.

“Rahul Gandhi’s convoy has been stopped by police near Bishnupur. Police say that they are not in a position to allow us. People are standing on both sides of the road to wave to Rahul Gandhi. We are not able to understand why have they stopped us,” Congress general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal said.

The Congress leader further said that Rahul’s visit is only aimed at meeting affected people and claimed that there was no blockade along the route they travelled 20-25 km on.

“I do not know why the Police are not allowing us. Rahul Gandhi’s visit is to meet the affected people only. We travelled around 20-25 km but there was no road blockage anywhere. Rahul Gandhi is sitting inside the car. I do not know who has instructed the local police,” Venugopal added.

Rahul, who began his two-day visit to the state today, is also scheduled to interact with civil society representatives in Imphal and Churachandpur. Rahul is the first mainstream Opposition leader to visit the state after the ethnic strife broke out in early May.

“Rahul Gandhi will be in the state on June 29-30 during which he will visit relief camps and interact with civil society representatives in Imphal and Churachandpur,” Venugopal had tweeted earlier.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and senior leader Jairam Ramesh, too, hit out against this move, saying that while PM Modi remains silent on the Manipur crisis, Rahul Gandhi, who was in the state to provide a healing touch, had been stopped.

TV reports showed Congress workers protesting against the decision by the police to stop Rahul’s convoy. Some of them also tried to break barricades following which the Manipur police had to use tear gas shells to disperse the crowd.

The BJP, meanwhile, slammed Rahul for “acting irresponsibly” by refusing to take a chopper to Churachandrapur and advised Congress to resist the temptation to make “petty political gains”.