M A I N   N E W S

TDP demands Modi’s removal
Cong begins ‘oust-Modi’ agitation

Hyderabad, April 11
On the eve of the BJP National Executive in Goa, pressure mounted on the saffron party with the TDP, major ally of the Vajpayee government, tonight demanding immediate removal of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, even as BJP President Jana Krishnamurthy ruled out any change of leadership in the state.

“The TDP demands the BJP to immediately effect a change of leadership in Gujarat,” a resolution adopted by the TDP Politburo at its meet here this evening said.

“Unless this is done, we will be guilty of eroding public confidence and failing to provide just and fair governance to the citizens of the country,” it said.

Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee said tonight he would discuss NDS allies’ demand for the resignation of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi with his colleagues at the BJP’s National Executive meeting starting tomorrow in Goa.

NEW DELHI: The Congress on Thursday launched a high-voltage campaign across the country to press for the dismissal of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi for his “failure” to contain communal violence which claimed over 800 lives in the state.

Senior Congress leaders and workers wore black badges, sat on dharna and took out processions as part of their agitation programme to mobilise public opinion against the Modi government.

In Gujarat, Pradesh Congress Committee President Amarsinh Chaudhary and Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Naresh Raval joined hundreds of Congress workers at a dharna in Gandhinagar.

Terming Mr Modi’s rule as “regressive”, Mr Chaudhary and Mr Raval said Gujarat was passing through a critical phase.

Dharna programmes were organised at all taluka and district headquarters in the state. But the party was denied permission to organise the sit-in at Ahmedabad.

Congress workers burnt an effigy of Mr Modi in Kolkata, accusing him of orchestrating the attacks on minorities in the state.

Describing the violence in Gujarat as an attack on Indian democracy, Delhi Congress spokesman Mukesh Sharma demanded that “Modi should be dismissed and murder charges registered against him”. PTI