Thackeray arrest ‘not now’
Sonia attacks BJP government

MUMBAI, Aug 9 (PTI) — Congress President Sonia Gandhi today said she was not demanding the arrest of Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray in the wake of his indictment by the Srikrishna Commission that probed the 1992-93 Mumbai riots and subsequent bomb blasts.

"We are not demanding arrest of Thackeray now as the situation is not right, but we want Maharashtra Chief Minister Manohar Joshi to step down", Ms Gandhi said replying to a query during an informal meeting with reporters.

Asked why she was not in favour of Mr Thackeray’s arrest, the Congress President said "we have already demanded resignation of the Chief Minister as he too stands indicted by the commission".

She said the CWC had appointed a two-member committee to study the Srikrishna Commission findings and the party would decide its course of action based on its report.

"I have not read the Srikrishna report fully", she said but in her view, Congress leader Sudhakarrao Naik, who was the Maharashtra Chief Minister during the riots period, had not been indicted by the commission and there was only a remark on his inactivity.

The Congress president, Ms Sonia Gandhi, today accused the BJP-led coalition government at the Centre of clinging to power despite escalating prices, deteriorating law and order situation and economic prosperity.

Addressing a public meeting here to mark the 56th anniversary of the Quit India Movement here, she alleged that the Atal Behari Vajpayee government was interested only in raking up non-issues such as nuclear explosions.

"Unless benefits of economic reforms reach the masses, the nation’s freedom is incomplete, Ms Sonia Gandhi said at the public meeting organised by the Mumbai Regional Congress Committee at the August Kranti Maidan.

"Today, after five decades of the country’s Independence, the same people, who were opposed to Mahatma Gandhi’s ideals, are ruling the country," she said in Hindi.

She appealed to Congressmen to strive for communal harmony and build a new India to fulfil the dreams of Mahatma Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Indira Gandhi.

Regretting that the country had now plunged into ‘darkness’ Ms Gandhi wondered whether this was the land from where Mahatma Gandhi, a believer in ‘ahimsa’ (non-violence), had given a call for the Quit India Movement.

The function was marred by a boycott by newspersons following an assault allegedly by Congress on three lensmen covering the function.

Print and electronic media persons later marched towards Gamdevi police station to register a complaint.

Patriotic fever gripped the venue in the backdrop of melodious songs.

Poet Pradeep and veteran freedom fighters Tulsidas Yadav and Ghulam Ali Karim were felicitated by Ms Gandhi with a shawl and a souvenir.

Leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha, Sharad Pawar lamented that people who had assassinated Mahatma Gandhi were being glorified in Maharashtra.

Referring to the Srikrishna Commission of Inquiry report into city riots of 1992-93, Mr Pawar said those elements who were responsible for the bloodshed in riots were creating communal disharmony by spreading terror among the people.

Mr Pawar said the Shiv Sena-BJP government had not rooted out corruption but had used the state machinery for the benefit of some people. He urged the Congress to sink their differences and come together for destroying such forces.

Just before Ms Gandhi began her speech, three cameramen, Sudharak Olve, J R Loke and Raju Jagtap, were allegedly bashed up by Congressmen as their view was obstructed. In the melee, their cameras were also damaged. Despite apology tendered by MRCC president Murli Deora, agitated pressmen observed a boycott.

In a related development the Republican Party of India (RPI) General Secretary Ramdas Athavale today met Congress President Sonia Gandhi and mooted an electoral alliance for assembly elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Tripura.

Mr Athavale, who spoke to Ms Gandhi during a luncheon meeting organised by the MRCC here, told PTI he had proposed his party’s alliance with the Congress on the pattern of the RPI-Congress tie up for the last Lok Sabha polls in Maharashtra.

The RPI leader said Ms Gandhi had responded favourably and had suggested a joint meeting of both parties in New Delhi soon.

Mrs Gandhi declared that it would not shirk its responsibility of forming the government at the Centre or in any state in the event of contingencies. "We have to be alert as anywhere anything can happen but we are ready for taking up the responsibility of giving a government", she said adding that the Congress was not in any hurry to oust the BJP-led government at the Centre.

No ground to sack Joshi: Advani

BHOPAL, Aug 9 (PTI) — Union Home Minister L.K. Advani today said the Centre might set up a commission to suggest changes and amendments in the country’s Constitution before the winter session of Parliament.

"Although I cannot set any deadline for the setting up of the commission on the Constitution, I hope that it will be formed before the winter session of Parliament", Mr Advani told a press conference at the Madhya Pradesh BJP office soon after his arrival from Delhi on a day’s visit to the city.

The Home Minister said the proposed commission would give suggestions about changes and amendments in the Constitution in the light of experience since Independence.

He also said he was hopeful that the Indrajit Gupta Committee on poll reforms would give its suggestions about official funding of elections before the winter session of Parliament.

On escalating prices of essential commodities, Mr Advani said the rise in the prices was expected because of the critical economic situation inherited by the Vajpayee Government.

Seasonal factors were also partially responsible for the price rise, he said.

The central government and the Union Finance Minister had drawn up elaborate plans to curb rise in prices, Mr Advani said and expressed hope that they would bear fruit.

Mr Advani today said strictures passed against Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray by the Srikrishna Commission, which probed the 1992-93 riots in Mumbai could not be a ground for dismissing the Shiv Sena-BJP government in Maharashtra.

Mr Advani said it was not mandatory for state governments to accept the reports of the commissions set up by them to go into various matters.

Scores of commissions had given reports against many governments till now but none of them had been dismissed, the Home Minister said.

Asked about the demand for the dismissal of the Sena-BJP government, he said: "It is a trite demand and does not need to be commented upon."

He expressed confidence that India would score a victory in the proxy war being waged against it for the past few years by Pakistan.

"My confidence that India will emerge victorious in the proxy war is based on the successes in counter-insurgency operations achieved by our intelligence agencies and security forces in Jammu and Kashmir in the recent months," Mr Advani said.

To a question, he said the Centre was receiving full cooperation from the Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Dr Farooq Abdullah in tackling militancy in that state.