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Congress wants probe by SC judge into Gujarat riots

Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi

The Congress party on Saturday demanded a judicial inquiry into the Gujarat riots by a sitting judge of the Supreme Court and rejected it by a judge of the high court.

"We are of the considered view that there is imperative necessity (for a probe into the Gujarat riots) by a sitting judge of the Supreme Court. We certainly reject the commission of inquiry by a hand-picked judge of the high court," pointed out chief Congress spokesman S Jaipal Reddy.

"If the Gujarat and the central governments are keen to dispel apprehensions, they must accede to our demands," he contended.

His party colleagues, Congress deputy leader in Lok Sabha Shivraj Patil and lawyer Kapil Sibal, who were part of the all-party delegation which visited Gujarat along with party chief Sonia Gandhi, were also present.

Giving his assessment of the situation in Gujarat, Patil said that the Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi was wholly unprepared to meet the situation following the riots.

"Not a single relief camp was started by the state government. The relief was inadequate and much more needs to be done," Patil said.

"We are sorry that the BJP state government took things very casually," he said.

Patil contended that the people of Gujarat were angry with Narendra Modi.

Sibal said that riot victims blamed the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the Bajrang Dal for attacks.

He alleged that some the victims had gunshot wounds on their stomach.

Asked to state his party's views on who it thought was responsible for the riots, Sibal said that circumstantial evidence pointed towards the state administration.

Earlier, BJP spokesman Vijay Kumar Malhotra criticised the opposition parties, mainly the Congress, for lashing out against the Modi government in Gujarat.

"The wrong message given by the opposition (members of the all-party delegation) was shocking and regrettable," he said.

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