The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Venkaiah Naidu wants Lalu dismissed

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Sunday, Apr 24, 2005

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Venkaiah Naidu wants Lalu dismissed

Staff Reporter

Railway Minister's `indecent' remarks against Advani flayed

NELLORE: The Bharatiya Janata Party vice-president, M. Venkaiah Naidu, has sought dismissal of the Union Railway Minister, Lalu Prasad, for what he descried as `behaving irresponsibly' during his recent visit to Gujarat.

Addressing a press conference here on Saturday, he dismissed the Minister's allegations against the Gujarat Government and claimed that there was no information about Mr. Lalu's visit to Vadodara after the Sabarmati Express accident.

According to Mr. Naidu, the local administration came to know about the Minister's visit at the last minute from the Air Traffic Control (ATC) at Vadodara and officials made necessary arrangements.

Mr. Lalu Prasad had started criticising "indecently" the BJP president, L.K. Advani. In situations like railway accidents, there was bound to be some protest by people and Mr. Naidu expressed concern over the spate of accidents in recent times.

Poser to Centre

He demanded to know as to what action the Central Government took against the Congress-ruled Government in Maharashtra when the Union Petroleum Minister, Mani Shankar Aiyar's plane was not allowed to land in Mumbai.

When the Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, visited Kolkata recently, no security was provided by the Government and the job was done by the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).

Naxal menace

About threats of dismissing the Gujarat Government, the BJP leader asserted that the party knew how to react and dared the Centre to intervene.

Regarding the State Government's performance, he alleged that it was not able to control the naxal menace and had failed in providing minimum support price to farmers. Mr. Naidu called for intervention by Central agencies like the Tobacco Board, the NABARD, etc.

About the inauguration of railway stations at Nellore, he claimed that he was no invitation, though the works and allotment was done during the NDA Government.

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