Modi govt, Governor take ‘same line’

Union Railway Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav’s efforts to make political capital out of the Vadodara incident is unlikely to take off, as ...

Union Railway Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav’s efforts to make political capital out of the Vadodara incident is unlikely to take off, as both the state government and Governor Naval Kishore Sharma are believed to have taken the same line in their reports. Both reports reached the Union Home Ministry today, ministry officials said.

Laloo has alleged that RSS and VHP activists attacked him at the behest of Gujarat CM Narendra Modi when he visited the injured passengers at Samalya village on Thursday.

Senior Home Ministry officials told The Indian Express that the two reports are more or less on the ‘‘same lines’’. They, however, refused to divulge the details as Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil is expected to brief the Parliament on Monday.

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Ministry officials said though the report is being studied, the Centre may still send a team to Gujarat if it needed more information, or ask either the state or the Governor for the same.

It is learnt that the Gujarat government has claimed it had no information about Laloo’s itinerary and so engineering an attack on him was out of the question. The government is also believed to have pointed out that they had no knowledge about Laloo reaching the hospital in a private taxi hired by the Railways and the local administration. Security was beefed up as soon as they got information, the government has claimed.

The state has also indicated, it is learnt, that the attack was ‘‘spontaneous’’ in nature by an irate crowd. The Governor’s report, sources say, pointed to a ‘‘security lapse’’ leading to the attack, but does not contradict the facts put forward by the state.

The BJP today accused the UPA of preparing the ground to sack the Narendra Modi government over the attack on Laloo.

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‘‘There is a move to use Article 355 to warn the democratically elected Gujarat government as a prelude to sacking it. If this provision in the Constitution is applied in Modi’s case, BJP and NDA will give a fitting reply,’’ senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi said in Kolkata.

6 rly officials suspended

VADODARA: The Western Railway on Saturday suspended six officers on grounds of ‘‘failure in supervision’’ in connection with the Sabarmati Express accident at Samlaya. The station master on duty, the assistant signal telecommunication engineer (Godhra), senior section engineer (signals), section engineer (signals) did not ensure safety and the signal maintainer and his helper were suspended for direct responsibility in the accident. The one-member Commission for Railway Safety on Saturday inspected the accident site and said he would submit an interim report within 15 days and the final report would be released in two months. — ENS

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