AHMEDABAD: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi began a 51-hour fast in support of the Narmada dam project here on Sunday even as the State Congress withdrew its "bandh" call following Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's assurance that the work on the dam had not been halted.

About 300 others, including State Bharatiya Janata Party president Vajubhai Vala, several Ministers in the Modi Cabinet, party office-bearers, leaders from various districts, representatives of the chambers of commerce and several non-government organisations joined Mr. Modi. About 3,000 people were also sitting on a dharna and relay fast on the Gujarat University ground here.

Mr. Modi, who announced his decision to go on a fast in Delhi on Saturday following the "tie" in the meeting of the review committee on the project, came to the venue around 2 p.m. He addressed the gathering expressing apprehension about the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance Government's "intentions" on the project.

Congress stays away

The State Congress, which so far had supported all the moves of the BJP and the State Government on the project, however, stayed away from Mr. Modi's fast and questioned continuing with the programme even after Dr. Manmohan Singh's assurance. The party, which offered to go on an indefinite fast with Mr. Modi if a similar situation arose in future, advised him to keep politics out of the Narmada issue.

Launching an attack on the Centre and Union Water Resources Minister Saifuddin Soz, Mr. Modi said the way the Centre was handling the issue and Mr. Soz making "behind the curtain moves," he was convinced that the Union Minister was helping the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) with documents and confidential reports to go to the Supreme Court again and create hurdles on the way to Gujarat's development.

He said he decided to go ahead with the fast due to contradictory reports from Delhi about Dr. Singh's stand on the issue. He said while the Prime Minister had reportedly assured the members of Parliament from Gujarat that no order had been issued to stop the construction work, sources in the Prime Minister's Office said Dr. Singh was only "studying" the report submitted by Mr. Soz.

He said Delhi was not interested in the Narmada project, which was already running at least two years behind the schedule, and wanted to create impediments in its implementation.

Giving details of what transpired at the Saturday's review committee meeting, Mr. Modi alleged that Mr. Soz deliberately spread wrong information that the work on the construction had been ordered to be halted when the meeting failed to take any decision and the "status quo" maintained.

He charged that though the NBA had "no specific complaints" about the rehabilitation and resettlement of the project-affected people, it was being aided by the Congress Ministers at the Centre.

Congress' poser

The State Congress decided to withdraw the bandh call around 1 p.m. after reports from Delhi that Dr. Singh had assured the Gujarat MPs' delegation that there was no question of ignoring the apex court's order on the dam height. The party pointed out that when BJP national general secretary Arun Jaitley, who was in the delegation, expressed satisfaction over the Prime Minister's stand, why was Mr. Modi upset.

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