Amarnath probe 8212; Cong goes down fighting

But the Congress did not lose without a fight. It was the party8217;s chief whip in the House, Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi, who went on the offensive from the word go. 8220;As a leader,8221; he told Advani, 8220;you are perfect. But as a Home Minister, you are confused, you are inefficient and you are incompetent. If anybody will be demoralised by a judicial inquiry as the BJP has charged, it will be your lack of perception.8221;

Advani though, for some reason, downplayed the broadside, and took objection to the language used by the Congress8217;s Mani Shankar Aiyar against Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. 8220;I did not expect this from a seasoned politician like you,8221; he said. Qawwal8217; folk singer was one of the adjectives the Congressman had used for the PM, Advani reminded Aiyar.

Voice-vote was resorted to over the Congress motion after Union Home Minister L.K. Advani8217;s brief reply to the debate that began yesterday. Both Vajpayee and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi were in the House when it became known that barring the Congress and a few small parties, none favoured a judicial probe into the incident.

Overlooking Dasmunshi8217;s one-point attack on him, Advani dwelt at length on what he said was a new development in that Pakistan, in its media broadcasts, was now accusing the Indian security forces of militant strikes in Jammu amp; Kashmir.

Advani said a high-level committee, headed by the security advisor to the Jamp;K Governor, was already looking into the Amarnath incident and, if need be, the Government would not shy away from a further inquiry.

But this did not appease many in the House. Moments after Advani8217;s reply, the Samajwadi Party staged a walkout from the House. Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav charged Advani with failing to address some basic issues. Muslims all over India, he held, were in a state of panic after the Amarnath pilgrims8217; massacre and the Home Minister had said nothing on the matter.

A number of Congress speakers refuted the allegation levelled mainly by ruling party members that by seeking a judicial inquiry, it wanted to divide the Lok Sabha. Dasmunshi said the inquiry could even be held in-camera but it was necessary to bring the truth out in the open.

Advani, for his part, insisted that though there might have been some security lapses in the Amarnath incident, it was not advisable to straightaway have a judicial probe. 8220;The Centre and the state government took all the precautions for a safe yatra,8221; he held.