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Congress wants answers to 15 questions on Gujarat

Shahid K Abbas in New Delhi

The Congress party on Thursday appealed to the Lok Sabha Speaker Manohar Joshi to ask the government to make a comprehensive statement through the Deputy Prime Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani to fifteen of the opposition queries, which they claimed were left unanswered during Tuesday's discussion on Gujarat under rule 193.

The party also expressed serious reservations on what it claimed were Bharatiya Janata Party's attempt to 'intimidate' the Chief Election Commissioner of India.

Addressing newsmen party spokesman Anand Sharma said, "Despite persistent demands the government has carefully skirted many pertinent questions, which the members had raised during the debate on Gujarat in both Houses."

He said that the Congress Lok Sabha member Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi has written to the Speaker urging him to advise the government to respond to the 15 unanswered questions.

Sharma said the questions include as to whom the caretaker government of Narendra Modi in Gujarat would be answerable if something goes wrong before the election was held in the state and to table in the House the list of all the sixty victims of Godhra carnage.

Dasmunshi, who raised the issue immediately after the end of the Question Hour, wanted the deputy prime minister to clarify these queries raised during the course of the debate on Gujarat by opposition members.

While members from Bihar wanted the Minister of State for Home I D Swami to clarify as to what relief has been provided to their flood-affected state, opposition members led by Dasmunshi stressed that Advani should come to the House at least by Monday to clarify the unanswered questions.

The other queries include tabling of the forensic report on the Godhra incident, total number of persons staying in relief camps, the number of missing people, total amount of the prime minister's package which had been spent and in what direction, the response of the Centre and action taken report on National Human Rights Commission's recommendations, reasons for issuing cheques of Rs 25, Rs 50 and Rs 100 to the victims who may not have even bank accounts, the reasons for police insisting upon women victims to identify the culprits publicly, the number of people killed or injured while returning home from the camps and the reason for channelising IDRF funds from US to support the activities of the VHP and the RSS as reported by the Outlook magazine in its July 22 issue.

While demanding the deputy prime minister to clarify if full normalcy has been restored and the ground was ready for election, Dasmunshi also sought to know as to why the 256 damaged dargahs, 18 mosques, 16 temples and 3 churches were not repaired and restored till date.

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