Varun unhurt as dais collapses in Pilibhit

A dais that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Varun Gandhi was standing on collapsed Friday in his Pilibhit constituency in Uttar Pradesh, but he did not suffer any injuries, police said.
'The four-feet high dais collapsed just before Varun was about to start his public address in the Bithaura area of Pilibhit,' additional superintendent of police D.K. Chaudhary told IANS on telephone. Pilibhit is about 250 km from Lucknow.
The stage prepared by party workers could not bear the load of around 15 people who had climbed on it, he said. According to police, no one was injured in the incident.
The Supreme Court Friday extended Varun Gandhi's parole till May 14, one day after balloting concludes in India's five-phase general elections.
He was charged under the National Security Act by the Uttar Pradesh government and arrested March 28 for reportedly making communally inflamed remarks. The Supreme Court had released him on two weeks' parole till May 1 after he gave an undertaking that he would not deliver hate speeches.