Dear Mr Modi, here goes a stinker: PM

In his strongest signal of disapproval to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi since his you-should-follow-rajdharma remark in Ahmedabad on ...

In his strongest signal of disapproval to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi since his you-should-follow-rajdharma remark in Ahmedabad on April 4, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has rapped him for discriminating against Muslim victims of the communal violence.

This time the rebuke has gone in writing8212;a letter from Vajpayee to Modi was sent days before the Prime Minister left for Almaty.

nbsp;	FROM GROUND ZERO	nbsp;
8226; Compensation: About 100 victims in Ahmedabad remain unidentified. The Rs 1.5-lakh death compensation paid to only 263 out of 434 riot victims in the city. The rest 8216;8216;in process.8217;8217; 8226; Housing: Victims have received as little as Rs 200 as compensation for their burnt down homes. During initial surveys, the houses were partly damaged, later they were burnt down. A second survey being done. 8226; Relief: Maximum compensation fixed by the government Rs 50,000 irrespective of scale of loss. For 8216;8216;loss of belongings,8217;8217; maximum amount Rs 1,250 which has been doubled but remains grossly inadequate. Many have not received even this amount. Janyala Sreenivas

The letter is said to have made three points:

8226; The state government is comparatively under-assessing the damage to properties owned by Muslim families.

8226; Ex-gratia payment to the victims, especially those from the Muslim community, is not being disbursed properly.

8226; The state must decide to relocate victims from the worst-hit areas as they cannot go back to their original places of residence.

The letter has instructed Modi to take necessary corrective measures immediately so that relief and rehabilitation work is carried out without further distortions.

Vajpayee8217;s criticism of the Modi Government8217;s relief work comes at a time when the party is once again openly talking about early elections and the dissidents within the state unit are making anti-Modi noises, although still in private.

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The letter also comes after nearly a month of silence by the Centre following the national executive in Goa where Modi saved his job with more than a little help from his friends.

Observers said that while it8217;s premature to speculate whether Modi is on his way out, the letter is certainly an indication of Vajpayee8217;s deep unhappiness with the way things are in Gujarat.