M A I N   N E W S

Babri tapes rock Parliament
Oppn questions CBI’s role; demands Advani's resignation
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 31
The Central Bureau of Investigation’s alleged ‘partisan’ role in the Ayodhya case rocked Parliament today as a determined Opposition disrupted the proceedings of both Houses and demanded the resignation of Deputy Prime Minister L. K. Advani.

In the Lok Sabha, the Congress, RJD and other Opposition parties demanded Mr Advani’s resignation for his role in, what they called, the manipulation of the CBI probe into the case.

While the Lok Sabha was adjourned for the day in the afternoon, the Upper House had to be adjourned twice in the pre-lunch session. However, normalcy was restored in the post-lunch period in the Rajya Sabha.

The day began in the Lok Sabha on a stormy note as the Ayodhya case and other contentious issues were discussed. It was adjourned till 2 pm on the Ayodhya case following noisy scenes when members of the entire Opposition led by the Congress trooped into the well.

The House had earlier seen an adjournment of 15 minutes during zero hour on the issue of the Mumbai blasts.

When the House reassembled, it was again thrown into turmoil as Congress member Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi persisted with his demand for a discussion. Mr Dasmunshi alleged that there had been gross manipulation of the CBI in presenting false evidence in the Rai Bareli court in an attempt to protect Mr Advani.

The Deputy Speaker did not pay heed to his plea and took up special mentions, prompting the opposition members, including Mr Vilas Muttemwar, Mr Naresh Puglia (Cong) and Ms Kanti Singh (RJD), to storm the well.

The Opposition members started shouting slogans like “Stop the bungling”, “Stop misuse of CBI” and demanded the resignation of Mr Advani. Mr Sayeed pleaded in vain with them to resume seats.

As the clash between the treasury benches and the Opposition did not show any sign of abating, the chair adjourned the House for the day.

Earlier in the morning, repeated pleas by Chairman Bhairon Singh Shekhawat to restore order and decorum in the Upper House failed to pacify the Opposition members who continued with their demand for a discussion and reply by the Prime Minister.

As soon as the House assembled for the day, Opposition members, led by Mr Suresh Pachauri (Congress), were on their feet drawing the Chair’s attention to media reports that the CBI had not submitted to the court the tape containing speeches of Mr Advani, Mr Murli Manohar Joshi, Ms Uma Bharti and others on the fateful day.

BJP challenges Congress over tapes
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 31
The Bharatiya Janata Party today accused the Congress of “attempting to malign the government and the party” on the issue of CBI tapes in the Babri demolition case, and challenged it to produce any tape to prove its allegation of Deputy Prime Minister L. K. Advani’s involvement in the incident.

“By demanding the production of evidence which is not available, the Congress is making a political attempt to malign our government and the leadership,” party President M. Venkaiah Naidu told newspersons here.

He said while the Congress had withdrawn many important cases against its leaders during its tenure, “our government had decided not to withdraw the cases.”

“The Congress will not succeed in its attempts and it would boomerang on them,” Mr Naidu said.

Later, party spokesman V. K. Malhotra said the tapes were prepared by the CBI during the tenure of Mr P. V. Narasimha Rao as Prime Minister.

“Let the Congress produce any tape to prove that Mr Advani, Mr Murli Manohar Joshi and other leaders had provoked the kar sevaks to demolish the structure,” he said.

Professor Malhotra claimed that even the oral evidence available with the CBI showed that the leaders were present only to prevent the kar sevaks from demolishing the structure.