BJP washes hands of Lucknow stampede

MANDATE 2004

The BJP yesterday sought to wash its hands off the saree distribution function at Lucknow that led to a stampede in which 22 women were killed in the Prime Minister's constituency, telling the Election Commission that the party was in no way involved, either directly or indirectly, in it.

A delegation of BJP leaders led by party spokesman Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi met the full Election Commission yesterday to submit the party's response on the issue.

The party was issued a show cause notice by the commission on April 16 giving it a week's time to reply. The commission had also directed the UP government to file a criminal case of electoral bribery against BJP leader Lalji Tandon.

Twenty-one poor women and an infant were trampled to death in the stampede during the saree distribution programme to celebrate Tandon's birthday on April 12.

Prakash Javdekar, B P Singhal and Balbir Punj were among other members of the BJP delegation which met the Chief Election Commissioner T S Krishna Murthy and election commissioners B B Tandon and N Gopalswamy.

The delegation also complained to the commission about an advertisement in an Urdu daily in Lucknow seeking minority support for the Samajwadi Party (SP) projecting SP leader Mulayam Singh Yadav as the only "protector"of minority community.

Naqvi told reporters that the BJP objected to the advertisement as it whipped up communal sentiments.

The BJP spokesman said the delegation also wanted the commission to take steps to ensure a free and fair election in Chapra in Bihar which is witnessing a "lot of tension". RJD chief Laloo Prasad Yadav is locked in a tussle with BJP candidate and union minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy in the constituency.

The party expressed apprehension about the incidents in Haridwar to which the commission replied that it would send a team there to probe the situation.

In Mangalore, BJP President M Venkaiah Naidu accused the Congress of "maligning" the Prime Minister by linking him to the Lucknow stampede.

"The Congress is maligning the image of the Prime Minister in the incident accusing him of being responsible, which is far from the truth," Naidu told reporters.

Naidu said neither the BJP nor Vajpayee were responsible and its leader Lalji Tandon, during whose birthday celebrations the incident happened, was not the election agent of Vajpayee.

Naidu said the Congress had become nervous after the first phase of elections in the country and was trying to find fault with everything including opinion and exit polls.