Cong. stand on Narmada criticised

By Our Special Correspondent

AHMEDABAD, NOV. 26. The two-day state executive of the ruling BJP in Gujarat has strongly criticised the Congress's alleged anti- Narmada dam stance and has advised its rank and file, particularly the youth, to take on the main opposition party head-on on various such issues.

A resolution adopted at a meeting of the BJP state executive attacked the ``double-standard'' of the Congress on the very sensitive issue of the Narmada dam pointing out that while on one hand it was taking out a state-wide `Kumbh Yatra' to claim the BJP Government's ``failure'' to expedite the implementation of the Narmada dam project, on the other its leaders were ``hobnobbing'' with its principal detractor, the Narmada Bachao Andolan.

A recent `lok adalat' organised by the NBA at the dam construction headquarters of Kevadiya Colony came in handy for the BJP to attack the Congress. One of its former Member of the Lok Sabha and prominent advocate, Mr. Haroobhai Mehta, a strong supporter of the veteran leader, Mr. Madhavsinh Solanki, was sharing the dais with Ms. Medha Patkar and other dam critics at the adalat. The executive, however, claimed that the lok adalat fell through because the local people, mostly the dam oustees rehabilitated by the State Government, ``chased the NBA leaders'' away and cautioned them against entering the state again to ``mislead'' the people.

The resolution noted with concern that even during the recent farmers' rally at Mehsana, the party's national president, Ms. Sonia Gandhi, did not ``spare a single word for the Narmada'' though the dam would be the main source of irrigation for the farmers in north Gujarat facing acute shortage of water. The Congress leaders were also not doing enough to convince the Government in Madhya Pradesh to co-operate with the state for the speedy implementation of the dam project, it said.

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