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November 11, 2002
2120 IST

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Congress says it has nothing to do
with SGPC polls

Shahid K Abbas in New Delhi

The Congress has expressed concern over being linked to the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandkhak Committee elections to be held in Golden Temple, Amritsar, on Tuesday.

Reports had indicated that the deployment of security forces in Amritsar for the elections was aimed at serving the interest of the Congress.

"The Congress is a secular party and has never contested SGPC or any elections related to any community," party general secretary Ambika Soni said in New Delhi.

She said party president Sonia Gandhi had directed Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh to ensure that the sensitivity of any community is not hurt.

Regarding the situation in Uttar Pradesh, she said the Congress did not have any understanding with the Bharatiya Janata Party in forcing arms dealer Suresh Nanda to withdraw his nomination papers for the Rajya Sabha.

Soni said Congress general secretary in-charge of UP, Motilal Vora, had spoken to UP Congress Legislature Party leader Pramod Tiwari and the latter had clarified that he had nothing to do with the withdrawal of Nanda.

"If a Congress leader is standing at a place where some BJP leaders are also present, it would not be correct to interpret that the Congress has some understanding with the BJP," she said when told that Tiwari was caught on camera helping BJP leaders to force Nanda to withdraw.

She said at the Mount Abu conclave of the Congress, several chief ministers had raised the issue of landless tribals who were not able to even cultivate forestland.

Gandhi will soon convene a meeting of Congress CMs to discuss the problems of the tribals, Soni said.

Soni said the meeting would be held before the next conclave of CMs.

During her press conference at Mount Abu on Saturday, Gandhi had indicated that the conclave would be held in four months.

Kerala Chief Minister A K Antony and his counterpart in Chhattisgarh, Ajit Jogi, have offered to hold the conclave in their states.

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