National

BJP covering up for Gujarat sins: CPI

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD JUNE 22. The general secretary of the Communist Party of India, A.B. Bardhan, has alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Sangh Parivar had favoured the eminent scientist, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, as the presidential candidate only to cover up "their sins in Gujarat.''

Addressing a press conference here today, he said the BJP had used the names of the Vice-President, Krishan Kant, and the Maharashtra Governor, P. C. Alexander, only as "pawns in their game of chess.'' It had not made a serious attempt to arrive at a consensus on the presidential candidate.

Flaying the Union Minister for Rural Development, M.Venkaiah Naidu, for his "ill-informed tirade'' against the Left parties, Mr. Bardhan said he was "amused" at Mr. Naidu's charge that the Left was politicising the presidential election. The post of the President was very much a political post. "If Mr. Naidu is afraid of talking politics, why is he in the business of politics?''

The response of Dr. Kalam to the Gujarat tragedy (that it was "painful") was inadequate, Mr. Bardhan said. The Gujarat carnage was a national shame and "is it enough to dismiss the issue as painful?''

The Gujarat BJP was attempting to benefit from the human tragedy by proposing a "Gujarat Gaurav Rath Yatra'' and the Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, was closing down the relief camps by coercion. The Prime Minister must ensure that no ``yatra'' was carried out.

Mr. Bardhan also suggested that the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, Chandrababu Naidu, "who has a lot of clout with the BJP,'' break his silence and speak out against the closure of the relief camps and the continuance of Mr. Modi in power. "Only then Mr. Naidu's secular credentials will be justified.'' Admitting that the BJP had "successfully" broken the Opposition, especially the People's Front, in the bargain to field Dr. Kalam, he said even if the party had tried to evolve a consensus on the candidature of Dr. Kalam, the Left parties would not have accepted him as they held that his non-political background was a disqualification.

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