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Shekhawat no moderate: Gehlot

By Our Special Correspondent

JAIPUR JULY 16. The Rajasthan Chief Minister, Ashok Gehlot, has charged that the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) at the Centre has not tried for a consensus in the choice of candidate for the post of the Vice President. "In the choice of the Presidential candidate, they wanted to give the impression that the Opposition parties are consulted but in the case of the nominee for the Vice President's post no such attempt was made,'' he said.

Mr.Gehlot broke his studied silence on the likely nomination of the former State Chief Minister, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, as the NDA candidate for the post of the Vice President, while talking to the mediapersons today in the southern Rajasthan district of Banswara. He alleged that Mr.Shekhawat was being rewarded with a nomination for his recent "communal utterances''.

The present developments only indicated the emergence of the RSS and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad as decision-makers in the NDA Government, Mr.Gehlot charged. The decision favouring Mr.Shekhawat too was part of the Sangh Parivar's experiment with Gujarat model, he said, referring to the former's alleged statement that "Rajasthan would be turned into a Gujarat''.

``When as a political party, the BJP should have apologized to the nation for the massacre of innocent people in Gujarat, those who supported it are promoted and rewarded,'' Mr.Gehlot charged. "The Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, and Mr.Shekhawat, who projected themselves as moderates in the past, now stand exposed in the post-Gujarat scenario,'' he said.

``The posts of the President and the Vice-President are generally decided after consultations with all political parties. Even when NDA claims that it has a majority both in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, other political parties should have been consulted before deciding on the post of the Vice President to maintain propriety,'' he observed.

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