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'Dharnas' mark Cong. campaign for Modi ouster

NEW DELHI APRIL 11 . The Congress today launched a high-voltage campaign across the country to press for the dismissal of the Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, for his ``failure'' to contain communal violence in the State, which has claimed over 800 lives in over a month.

Senior Congress leaders and workers wore black badges, sat on `dharnas' and took out processions as part of their agitational programme to mobilise public opinion against the Modi Government.

In Gujarat, the Pradesh Congress Committee president, Amarsinh Chaudhary, and the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, Naresh Raval, joined hundreds of Congress workers at a `dharna' staged at Gandhinagar. Terming Mr. Modi's rule as ``regressive,'' Mr. Chaudhary and Mr. Raval said the State was passing through a critical phase. `Dharnas' were also organised at all the `talukas' and district headquarters of the State. But the party was denied permission to organise the sit-in at Ahmedabad.

In Kolkata, the Congress workers burnt an effigy of Mr. Modi and accused him of "orchestrating the attacks on minorities" in Gujarat. In Delhi, about 50 Congress activists, with black bands on their arms, raised slogans against the Bharatiya Janata Party and accused Mr. Modi of being responsible for the violence in Gujarat.

Protest demonstrations were also organised in Bihar. The State Congress president, Shakeel Ahmed, its Legislature Party leader, Vijay Shankar Dubey, and several other leaders staged a `dharna' in Patna. Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Ahmed charged the Union Home Minister, L. K. Advani, and Mr. Modi with having "failed" to tackle the situation in Gujarat after the Godhra train carnage and demanded their dismissal.

In Bhubaneshwar, the Orissa Congress president, Sarat Patnaik, and the Leader of the Opposition, Ramakanta Mishra, staged a `dharna' outside the Raj Bhavan along with party activists, demanding the dismissal of the Modi Government to halt the continuing communal riots in Gujarat.

``We are observing it (today) as black day,'' the PCC spokesman, Lalatendu Mohapatra, said.

PTI

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