Samata to study religious Bills

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, MAY 1. The Samata Party today decided to constitute a committee to study the controversial U.P. Religious Endowments Bill and similar legislations enacted by the Congress(I) Governments in States like Madhya Pradesh.

The decision was taken at the national executive of the party in view of the dust raised by the Bill adopted by the U.P. Assembly.

``We are not going into the merits of the U.P. Government Bill. We are only interested in knowing why the Bill has given room to apprehensions and doubts when similar legislations are on the statute in other States'', the newly appointed party spokesperson, Mr. Shambunath Shrivastava, told presspersons here.

The recent price hike and the consequent demand from several quarters for its reconsideration was another major issue that was discussed at the meeting in the course of a debate on economic resolution.

In response to specific questions on the stand of Samata on the price hike, Mr. Shrivastava said the issue was still under discussion at the national executive and it was not appropriate to say anything on the subject.

The economic and political resolutions will be released tomorrow.

The executive adopted a resolution expressing serious concern over drought in several parts of the country and decided to send a high-level team to Rajasthan, Gujarat and Bihar next week.

The team will consist of the Minister of State for Railways, Mr. Digvijay Singh, the Minister of State for Consumer Affairs and Public distribution, Mr. Sreenivas Prasad and Mr. Raghunath Jha. It will be headed by the former Union Minister, Mr. Nitish Kumar. The party also intends to send fodder for cattle in Bihar.

The national executive had recommended to the Government to go ahead with the introduction of the Bill on proxy voting for military and para-military personnel, despite opposition from the Congress(I) and the Left.

The executive finalised the schedule for organisational elections. The party president will be elected by September 20. The party national council is scheduled to meet in Bangalore on September 21 and 22, under the new president.

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