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I do not need any certificate, says Khurana

By Our Special Correspondent

JAIPUR, APRIL 1. The Rajasthan Governor, Madan Lal Khurana, today said he was not looking for a certificate from the political leaders on what he does. "I too was in politics till recently. Whatever I did then was politically motivated but not any more,'' he said.

Mr. Khurana was reacting to observations made by some Congress politicians in the State accusing him of trying to indirectly help the ruling party through his Raj Bhavan programme of assisting the poor. "I am pained and disturbed to see that an attempt is being made to give a political colour to what I do out of compassion for the poor," he said talking to mediapersons.

Asserting that whatever he was doing now through his ''Garib sunwai''(listening to the poor) programme was above politics, he said, "It is cheap to bring in politics in such a pious activity. I am not doing it for religion as well. I am talking about doing one's dharma,'' Mr. Khurana said.

He disclosed that permission was sought from the Election Commission before he agreed to become the patron of the recent "pravachan'' (discourse) by Bapu Asaram.

Today's was the last of the grievance reddress programmes started two months ago by Mr. Khurana at Raj Bhavan. The event is suspended till the Lok Sabha elections end. The day's programme was marred by a big rush of people seeking alms from the Governor, who found it a little conspiratorial.

"The police told me that many of them were not genuine. A good part of the crowd comprised of two slums in the capital city itself. I can guess who could have sent them here,'' he said without naming any political party. "There were about 5,000 persons when Raj Bhavan had made arrangements for only 1000,'' he informed.

After calling for reinforcements to cater to the additional numbers, 1,500 persons were given packets of wheat flour, dal, sugar and milk worth a total of Rs.3 lakh as contribution from Bapu Asaram.

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