New Delhi, April 28: Accusing BJP leader L K Advani of colluding with Gujarat CM Narendra Modi during 2002 riots, the Congress on Wednesday said that the then home minister was not in favour of using the Army to prevent riots.
“On March 1, 2002, I, as a part of a Congress delegation of MPs, had called on then PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee to request the Centre to hand over Gujarat to the Army. Advani, who was present there, told us that ‘we will deploy the Army but not hand over (riot-affected) areas to them’.
It must have been at Modi’s behest or at the PM’s, or a result of some group meeting between them, that the Army was not deployed. Riots would not have prolonged, had it (affected areas) been handed over to the Army within a couple of days,” AICC general secretary Madhusudan Mistry said.
“The CM of Gujarat would not have dared to ask police officers to allow Hindus to vent out their anger, unless he had the active support of then home minister. Advani and the entire BJP was party to actions of Modi during the riots,” said Mistry, who hails from Gujarat.
Mistry, who is AICC general secretary in-charge of Karnataka, also alleged that the B S Yedyurappa-led state government could not indulge in corrupt practices without the support of central leadership of the BJP
—Agencies