The Hindu : BJP's poser to Antony

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Mar 29, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

BJP's poser to Antony

By Our Staff Reporter

KOZHIKODE, MARCH 28 . The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) State general secretary, P.K. Krishnadas, today said the Chief Minister, A.K. Antony, should clarify whether he valued his party's alliance with the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) more than national security in the light of the State Police Department's and Intelligence Bureau officials' statement that the Marad Intelligence reports contained materials concerning the security of the country.

Addressing a news conference here, the BJP leader said the State police and the Intelligence Bureau (IB) under the Union Home Ministry, while appealing against the order of the Marad Judicial Inquiry Commission in the Kerala High Court, had stated that the Intelligence reports from the period of the communal riots in January 2002 to the May 2, 2003 violence at Marad could not be disclosed to the public as they contained materials concerning the security of the nation.

Accusing the Chief Minister of being pressurised by the IUML, Mr. Krishnadas said that it was the sole reason why Mr. Antony did not favour a CBI probe into the incident. "The Chief Minister was attempting to protect the culprits behind the incident," he alleged. He said the Chief Minister was yet to divulge on the possibility of ordering a CBI probe into the incident even though the Advocate General had submitted his legal opinion in this matter months ago.

The BJP would chalk out future plans after getting the response of the Chief Minister on the Marad issue, he said.

Remark criticised

Our Staff Reporter writes from Kochi: The former BJP president, C.K. Padmanabhan, has taken exception to the reported statement of the Chief Minister that if the BJP came to power, the country would witness bloodshed.

He said the Chief Minister was trying to set the people against one another by making such a statement.

He was addressing an election meeting of the BJP here today.

He urged the Chief Minister to refrain from making such statements. He said the people had a positive attitude towards the development policies of the Central Government.

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