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Speaker disallows Opposition demand on Gujarat

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI JULY 26. The Lok Sabha Speaker, Manohar Joshi, today disallowed an Opposition demand that the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, come to the House and answer clarifications to members' queries during Tuesday's discussion on Gujarat, saying rules did permit it.

"I have been through the procedures and rules and did not find any instance of a Minister being called back to respond to questions that were unreplied. There are other methods for members to seek reply to their queries. If members are not satisfied, then, the Business Advisory Committee can go into it or we can sit down and decide how their questions can be replied,'' he said.

Raising the issue during zero hour, the chief whip of the Congress, Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi, said Mr. Advani had not touched upon most of the queries raised during the debate. The question about the names of the Sabarmati Express train passengers, who were killed in Godhra on February 27, had not even been mentioned by Mr. Advani in his reply. "He should come to the House on Monday and answer all our queries or it will be difficult for us to cooperate with the Government,'' he said.

The Opposition leader, Sonia Gandhi, was present in the House at the time but Mr. Advani was not.

Somnath Chatterjee, CPI (M), said Mr. Advani had issued a circular with regard to his reply to the debate in the House through the Press Information Bureau. "He should withdraw the circular and make a statement in the House as a matter or record.'' Mulayam Singh Yadav (Samajwadi Party) wanted to know in whose names reservations had been made for passengers travelling to Ayodhya on the Sabarmati Express and the names of those who had been compensated. His information was that reservations had been made in the name of MPs, MLAs and former MPs and MLAs and that the passengers were being sent for "rioting''. He accused the State Government of being responsible for their death. Ramji Lal Suman raised similar queries and also wanted to know why visa was denied to Amnesty International observers to visit Gujarat.

Recalling that the House was immediately adjourned after Mr. Advani's reply on Tuesday without clarifications, Mr. Joshi said he had an "open mind'' on the subject and was willing to discuss the matter with the Opposition members in his chamber within rules and procedures.

Earlier, Prabhunath Singh gave notice under zero hour seeking dismissal of the Jharkhand Government for announcing a domicile policy which denied linguistic minorities their right to property and jobs. The Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Pramod Mahajan, said the Centre had sought facts on this from the State Government and would return with a statement in the House next week.

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