Yechury lambasts Rajnath

By Our Special Correspondent

COIMBATORE, MAY 7. The CPI(M) politburo member, Mr. Sitaram Yechury, today lambasted the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Mr. Rajnath Singh, for refusing to move court and remove the technical flaw in the Babri Masjid demolition case against the 21 accused, including the Union Home Minister, Mr. L.K. Advani.

Endorsing the Congress criticism of Mr. Singh, Mr. Yechury told a press conference here that it was ``unbecoming'' of a Chief Minister to contend that rectification of the flaw was a ``political ploy'' to indict the BJP leaders. This stand provided the accused an ``escape route''.

He asserted that the court had pointed out the technical flaw thus suggesting issuance of a fresh notification for rectifying it.

On the impact of the rebel Trinamool Congress leader, Mr. Ajit Panja, rejoining the NDA Government (hinted by the Prime Minister on Sunday) on the Assembly elections in West Bengal, Mr. Yechury said that the Trinamool Congress had already split.

There was a lot of confusion among the rank and file. Besides, there was no coordination between the Congress and the Trinamool Congress.

``Though this might not have much significance in the current elections, which are hardly days away, it shows that the BJP continues to follow its permanent pattern of breaking the parties and gaining strength from them (in case of Trinamool Congress also). This is what it has been doing since 1960s''. He accused the Vajpayee Government of ``succumbing to the U.S. pressure and surrendering India's interests ``by removing the Quantitative Restrictions well ahead of the deadline. It was because of the ``slowdown'' in the U.S. economy that India was pressured into opening up its market.

He alleged India was not using the WTO forum ``for the interests of the country''. He contended that the WTO was a ``dynamic'' process which had scope for ``negotiations and re- negotiations''.

At present, negotiations were going on with regard to agriculture in the WTO. ``But the Indian Government is not trying to protect our domestic industry and agriculture''.

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