Rajnath briefs PM on Lucknow clash

NEW DELHI, JUNE 6. The Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, met the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Mr. Rajnath Singh, this morning and sought details about the clash in Lucknow yesterday in which two persons were killed and 30 injured.

The Prime Minister, who later left for Mumbai for his knee operation, expressed concern over the incident during his meeting with Mr. Singh.

At least 30 persons were injured in Lucknow yesterday, some of them seriously, in heavy brickbatting by an agitated mob who also set afire many vehicles at several places in the old city after a youth was killed allegedly by some policemen near Teela-Wali- Masjid in Chowk Kotwali in the wee hours.

The injured included one Additional District Magistrate (ADM), several policemen and journalists.

Their vehicles were also torched by the angry protesters.

The State Principal Secretary (Home), Mr. Naresh Dayal, had said three guilty policemen had been arrested and sent to jail.

- UNI

Cong. demands probe

Our Special Correspondent writes:

The Congress today demanded setting up of a judicial inquiry into violence and police firing in Lucknow as also riots in the Kanpur earlier and charged the Sangh Parivar with attempting to disrupt communal harmony ahead of the Assembly elections in the State.

The party said the incidents should be probed by a sitting judge of a High Court and officials found guilty should be punished. He said the State Government had earlier rejected the demand for a probe into the Kanpur riots.

The party spokesman, Mr. Anand Sharma, alleged the Lucknow incident was `instigated' and the riot `provoked' by police. He said there appeared to be a design to foment trouble and disrupt communal harmony in the State.

The Congress suspected that in both cases the effort was to `misuse' police and administration to instil fear in the minds of minorities ahead of the Assembly elections in the State.

``We do not consider the Lucknow incident as a sudden occurrence,'' Mr. Sharma said adding there was a conspiracy to disrupt communal harmony before the polls due to be held within a year.

The party also criticised the State administration for not granting permission to the UPCC president, Mr. Sriprakash Jaiswal, and the AICC secretary, Mr. Subodh Kant Sahay, to visit the affected locality.

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