Forgotten birthday

Two police officials connected with the 2002 riot case probes were also investigating the fodder scam case against former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad. A senior member of the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team probing the 2002 post Godhra riots,A K Malhotra,was spotted at a metropolitan court which is to decide the verdict on the closure report filed on the case against Chief Minister Narendra Modi later this month. Interestingly,Malhotra,a retired DIG with the CBI,had investigated the fodder scam in which Lalu was convicted. “Orders are pending in many more cases,” Malhotra told The Indian Express. The other officer involved in this probe is Surat Police Commissioner Rakesh Asthana,who investigated the case as SP,CBI,in Dhanbad. Asthana,on being repatriated from the CBI,headed the SIT set up by the Gujarat government to probe the Godhra train burning case.

Singled out

Is Gujarat Parivartan Party,headed by former chief minister Keshubhai Patel,in opposition or a partner of the ruling party inside the Assembly? When all the opposition MLAs from the Congress and NCP walked out of the Assembly on Monday after the suspension of Congress MLAs on the issue of delay in crop insurance payment to farmers,Keshubhai Patel did not join them. Instead,he remained seated inside the House. This provoked Leader of Opposition in Assembly Shankersinh Vaghela to say: “We don’t consider GPP an opposition party. We consider them a part of the government.” To ensure that Vaghela’s observations did not send a wrong message,GPP secretary Gordhan Zadaphia commented: “We have complaints against both BJP and Congress on the crop insurance issue as they are both responsible for the present plight of the farmers. It is the GPP that moved the court on crop insurance and got notices issued to the state and Central governments.”