The Hindu : National : Swamy urges U.P. Govt. to file a case

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Apr 15, 2004

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National

Swamy urges U.P. Govt. to file a case

By Our Special Correspondent

MADURAI, APRIL 14. The Janata Party president, Subramanian Swamy, has urged the Uttar Pradesh Government to file a case under Section 171 of the Indian Penal Code against the Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and the Bharatiya Janata Party leader, Lalji Tandon, for the death of 22 persons in a stampede during the distribution of saris in Lucknow on Monday.

Addressing the press here today, Dr. Swamy said it was a different matter that the distribution violated the model code. But the distribution of saris amounted to bribing the voters and the State Government should file cases under Section 171 of the IPC against the Lucknow candidate [Mr. Vajpayee] and his agent [Mr. Tandon].

He alleged that the National Democratic Alliance Government "has kept 65.27 tonnes of gold out of a total Reserve Bank of India holding of 350 tonnes with the Bank of England in London." This was a "violation of Section 33 (5) of the RBI Act," which stipulated that not more than 15 per cent of the gold stock of the RBI could be kept abroad and that too for a short period.

The Bank of England, he alleged, paid only 0.6 per cent interest on the gold deposit while the "normal returns elsewhere is about 5 per cent." He called for the prosecution of Yashwant Sinha, the then Finance Minister, "after the Chief Vigilance Commissioner holds an inquiry."

Referring to the film star, Rajnikant's decision to support the BJP for promising to link the rivers in the country, Dr. Swamy felt that it would take at least seven years for the project to be completed. "Should the farmers commit suicide in the interim period," he asked. Also, it was not the BJP which mooted the linking of rivers. It was he, as the Union Law Minister, who cleared the proposal for the formation of a southern river grid.

Dr. Swamy, who is contesting the Lok Sabha election from Madurai, has complained to the Returning Officer and District Collector that the candidates of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam had exceeded the permissible levels of poll expenditure.

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