Cong rally against Centre's 'betrayal'

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, AUG. 13.

Claiming that the people had lost faith in the Atal Behari Vajpayee-led National Democratic Alliance Government, the Congress Working Committee member, Mr. Ahmed Patel, said today the Centre had ``betrayed'' over two crore ``innocent'' investors who had invested their ``hard-earned'' money in different schemes of the Unit Trust of India.

Demanding that the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, resign immediately on moral grounds, Mr. Patel, told the Indian Youth Congress' ``Lalkar Rally'' here, that the people had lost faith in the Government which was neck-deep in corruption. ``It is a completely directionless Government in which people have lost faith and confidence,'' he added.

Referring to the murder of Ms. Phoolan Devi, MP, he said when even leaders were not safe in the Capital, how could one imagine of the safety of common man. Criticising the NDA Government for saffronisation of education, Mr. Patel said it was following the agenda of the Sangh Parivar which aimed at damaging the country's secular character.

Addressing the rally against the Centre's alleged involvement in the Rs. 6,000-crore UTI scam, AICC general secretary, Ms. Ambika Soni, said Mr. Vajpayee and the Finance Minister, Mr. Yashwant Sinha, owe a reply to the nation why corporates and industrial houses were allowed to withdraw money from UTI's schemes when small investors were denied this privileges.

Stating that retired Government officials and people from middle income group had been cheated, Ms. Soni said the Government also need to tell the public that on whose recommendation the former UTI Chairman, Mr. P.S. Subramanyam was appointed.

Alleging that the Finance Ministry and Prime Minister's Office were involved in the bungling, she said the way in which the Shiv Sena MP, Mr. Sanjay Nirupam, who leveled serious allegations against the Government, was silenced proved how the Government trying to cover up the case.

The AICC treasurer, Mr. Motilal Vora, said the Congress(I) was playing the role of an Opposition and had unearthed cases of the Centre's involvement in scams. He claimed that recent surveys showed that Ms.Sonia Gandhi's popularity was increasing and it was just a matter of time before the Congress(I) was voted to power.

The AICC secretary and the IYC in-charge, Mr. Anil Shastri, said the party's youth wing would continue with its tirade against the Government and force it to resign. He announced that the IYC would soon come out with a publication listing the misdeeds and corruption cases in which the NDA Government was involved.

Demanding that an FIR be lodged and all the guilty put behind bars, the IYC president, Mr. Randeep Singh Surjewala, said the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) constituted to investigate the scam should first begin with the PMO and Finance Ministry. Demanding Mr. Vajpayee to immediately put in his papers, he said unless this was done, a true and impartial investigation was impossible.

Referring to the recent massacre in Doda, Mr. Surjewala said both the NDA Government at the Centre and the Jammu and Kashmir Government should be sacked for their ``incompetency'' and failure to provide security to the people.

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