The Hindu : National : Don't politicise encounter deaths, says Venkaiah

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Thursday, May 03, 2007
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National

Don't politicise encounter deaths, says Venkaiah

Special Correspondent

Congress campaign "will boomerang if it tries to blame Modi"

NEW DELHI: Bharatiya Janata Party leader Venkaiah Naidu on Wednesday criticised the Congress for "politicising" the fake encounter killings in Gujarat and blaming Chief Minister Narendra Modi for the deaths.

"Encounter deaths have been taking place in Andhra Pradesh for many years; they took place in Maharashtra and even in Karnataka during the Congress rule. Did anyone ask those Chief Ministers to resign? We condemn what happened, but let us not politicise it," he said at a press conference.

Mr. Naidu "warned" the Congress that its campaign "will boomerang if it tries to blame Mr. Modi."

He said he had "no information" on whether Vishwa Hindu Parishad volunteers or others in the sangh parivar "garlanded" and "welcomed" police officer Vanjhara, arrested for the encounter deaths.

The BJP would concede an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the whole affair only if the court ordered it. "The matter is before the court. We have given the truth to the court in a sealed cover. We will humbly accept what the court decides."

On the Uttar Pradesh elections, he said the BJP parliamentary board would meet at 5 p.m. on May 11 to review the results. He categorically denied that the party would consider any post-election alliances.

The Election Commission's order, demanding proof of identity from voters, resulted in many genuine voters being turned away from polling booths, he said. This led to a poor turnout. In some areas, the polling was as low as 28 per cent.

Review

Mr. Naidu said he hoped the Commission would review its decision to ensure that genuine voters cast their votes.

"The poor people do not have driving licences, credit cards or passports or even PAN. Many of them do not even have ration cards. What proof of identity can they give?"

Hence, even those without any proof of identity should be allowed to vote, provided the polling agents of any party did not raise objections or put a question mark on the voter's identity.

Asked why the BJP was complaining about this when polling in five of seven phases was over, Mr. Naidu said that initially the party thought the voting numbers would pick up after the first two phases. He denied a suggestion that the party was more anxious now as in the next two phases the areas around Varanasi and Gorakhpur go to the polls and the BJP was hopeful of a better showing there.

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