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This is an archive article published on August 12, 1998

Sonia keeps out Pawar from Cong panel on Srikrishna

NEW DELHI, August 11: Leader of the Opposition Sharad Pawar has been excluded from the high-level Congress committee constituted by party...

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NEW DELHI, August 11: Leader of the Opposition Sharad Pawar has been excluded from the high-level Congress committee constituted by party president Sonia Gandhi, to study the report of the Srikrishna Commission which went into Mumbai riots of 1992-93.

The members of the committee are: Arjun Singh, Pranab Mukherjee and Ghulam Nabi Azad (all party Working Committee members) and noted lawyers, Kapil Sibal and Murali Bhandare.

The announcement of the committee was made by party spokesperson, Girija Vyas.

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Replying to questions, she described as “baseless” reports suggesting that Pawar was being removed from the post of the Leader of the Opposition and was being expelled from the organisation.

Meanwhile in Mumbai, the Congress and Left parties today urged Governor P C Alexander to dismiss Shiv Sena-BJP alliance government in the state following indictment of its leaders in the Srikrishna report and said the government’s negative stand on findings of the report was threatening the social fibre of theState.

A Congress delegation led by Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee president Prataprao Bhosale met Alexander at Raj Bhavan and pointed out that the utterances of Sena supremo Bal Thackeray even before the report was tabled in the State Legislature “is nothing but an insult of judiciary and democracy.” Leader of Opposition in Legislative Assembly Madhukarrao Pichad brought to the notice of the governor the statements of Chief Minister Manohar Joshi terming the report “anti-Hindu and biased.” Such statements by the Head of the State would encourage communal tension and threaten the law and order situation, he said.

The Congress delegation also included Leader of Opposition in the Council Chhagan Bhujbal, Gurudas Kamat, MP and Ranjit Deshmukh MLC.

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A delegation of Left parties, including the Peasants and Workers Party, led by senior CPI (M) leader Ahilya Ranganekar also called on the governor demanding immediate dismissal of the alliance government. Members of the CPI (M) state secretariat alsostaged a dharna at Azad Maidan here.

The national capital today witnessed three simultaneous demonstrations supporting and opposing the Srikrishna report.

Activists of Akhand Hindustan Morcha burnt an effigy of the commission report terming it as “anti-Hindu and biased” at the Jantar Mantar crossing even as workers of the Minorities Committee of Rashtriya Janata Dal staged a demonstration on Parliament Street nearby demanding dismissal of the government in Maharashtra. Even as police personnel were making efforts to keep the two groups at a distance, another batch of protesters belonging to the CPI (ML) – New Democracy arrived at Jantar Mantar shouting anti-fascist slogans and demanding immediate arrest of Bal Thackeray.

The protesters dispersed peacefully after fiery speeches and slogan shouting.

RLM meet

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As part of its broader agenda to topple the Vajpayee Government, the Rashtriya Loktantrik Morcha plans to bring all “secular parties” on a common platform by calling for a meet onAugust 16 against the Maharashtra Government on the Srikrishna report.

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