The Hindu : National : "Centre watching political situation in Gujarat"

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Monday, May 02, 2005

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National

"Centre watching political situation in Gujarat"

Special Correspondent

Inquiry into Shreekumar diary issue likely, says Shankarsinh Waghela "Some kind of control is needed on the Modi Government so that it cannot repeat an incident like the attack on Mr. Prasad"

RAJKOT: Taking note of the "attack" on the Railway Minister, Lalu Prasad, the Centre is keeping a "close watch" on the political situation in Gujarat to find a way to "control" the Narendra Modi Government, the Union Textile Minister, Shankarsinh Waghela, said.

Speaking to the media on the sidelines of a rally by his Shakti Dal to celebrate the 46th Gujarat Foundation Day here on Sunday, Mr. Waghela said the Centre had also taken a serious view of the "diary" of the Additional Director-General of Police, R.B. Shreekumar, submitted to the Central Administrative Tribunal that virtually called Mr. Modi a "murderer."

Options being considered

He said it might not be possible for the Centre to order a CBI inquiry into the allegations made in the diary without the consent of the State Government, but it could move the Supreme Court through some non-governmental organisation to seek a direction for such an inquiry.

Since it was submitted to the CAT, the diary was a "Central subject," and the Government could constitute a special investigating team to probe the allegations. Such a probe would encompass almost the entire period of the Modi dispensation from the Godhra train carnage to the attack on Mr. Prasad. This could be among the "options" being considered by the Centre to "control" the Modi Government, he said.

"Some kind of control is needed on the Modi Government so that it cannot repeat an incident like the attack on Mr. Prasad," Mr. Waghela said.

Mr. Waghela said that the video cassettes of the happenings in front of the SSG Hospital in Vadodara left "no doubts in the minds of the viewers that the Bajrang Dal and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad activists" threw stones at Mr. Prasad's car and yet the Chief Minister was behaving as if nothing had happened.

Mr. Waghela ruled out invoking Article 356 to dismiss the Modi Government, but was equally confident that the Bharatiya Janata Party Government would not last its full term.

He was confident that Gujarat would be heading for a mid-term poll by next May and saw a "clear, discernible" pro-Congress wave.

Mr. Waghela said the formation of the Shakti Dal had not only stopped fresh recruitments in communal outfits such as the Bajrang Dal and the VHP, it was also making deep inroads into the Parivar wings.

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