Allahabad: Uttar Pradesh BJP president Keshri Nath Tripathi was today (Jan 30, 2007) detained by police near here while he was on going towards the violence-hit district of Gorakhpur.

Tripathi was detained on the Allahabad-Pratapgarh highway in Soraon as a preventive measure and was released later, Senior Superintendent of Police B D Palson told sources here.

The BJP leader along with former minister and MLA Narendra Kumar Singh Gaur and other actvists blocked traffic on the highway in protest against the Mulayam Singh Yadav government's alleged attempts to "appease one community while hurting the sentiments of another".

Protesters yesterday indulged in rampant violence torching several vehicles and attempting to set a train on fire prompting clamping of curfew in some areas in Gorakhpur as tension gripped parts of eastern Uttar Pradesh after a local BJP MP's arrest.

Local MLA Yogi Adityanath was arrested on Sunday night.