Govt. not averse to Centre ordering CBI probe

By Our Special Correspondent

HUBLI, JULY 9. The Home Minister, Mr. Mallikarjun Kharge, today declined to comment on the reported statement made by the Defence Minister, Mr. George Fernandes, who alleged the involvement of the RSS and the Sangh Parivar in the attacks on Christians and Christian institutions in the country.

Mr. Kharge told presspersons that "may be Mr. Fernandes has better information". He could not say anything unless he got the report of the investigations ordered by the Government into the incidents in Karnataka.

The minister, who came here by helicopter to visit the church where a bomb exploded on Saturday, said he had ordered a CoD enquiry into the incident. This was in addition to the enquiry already ordered into the last month's incident at Wadi in Gulbarga District, he said.

Mr. Kharge said he was not averse to having a CBI enquiry in case the Centre desired to go into the entire gamut of the blasts in churches throughout the country.

Asked if he suspected the hand of the ISI in the latest incident, Mr. Kharge said that he was not in a position to say anything. However, he said it had become fashionable to blame the ISI for anything happening here. He was unwilling to say whether there was any link in the last month's incident at Wadi and the one in Hubli. But the pattern of the blasts appeared to be same, he said.

The Inspector General of Police, Anti-Terrorist Wing, Mr. K.S.Mendegar, was here to look into the matter and the explosive experts had been despatched to study the same.

The minister said there appeared to be a conspiracy to create fear psychosis among minorities but the Government was determined to frustrate such efforts. Asked whether such forces were within the country or outside, Mr. Kharge said he was only talking about what was happening in the State and it did not fall within his ambit to investigate the foreign angle. He was not prepared to speculate on the political angle to the blasts.

Mr. Kharge, accompanied by Mr. H.K.Patil, Minister for Major and Medium Irrigation, and Mr. T.John, Minister for State for Infrastructure Development and Civil Aviation, came by a helicopter from Bangalore around 1 p.m.

Mr. A.M.Hindusgeri, Minister for Labour and Wakfs, accompanied Mr. Kharge to the church where the blast had occurred. He addressed a meeting before leaving for Bangalore.

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