Southern States - Karnataka   

JD(U) may go all out against Govt.

By Our Special Correspondent

Bangalore Dec. 22. The Janata Dal (United) group in both Houses of the legislature will be on the warpath against the Government in the session commencing on Monday on the issue of the death of the former minister, H.Nagappa, in the forests as he was one of its respected leaders. It is also because of the personal involvement of some of the party leaders in the efforts made to secure his release.

However, the six-day session of the legislature may find the Opposition on the defensive as much as the Government over many issues.

The Government has a ready answer to the already voiced criticism over the handling of many issues, including the Cauvery crisis and the Nagappa abduction tragedy, that it went by consensus arrived at through wide consultation. For instance, it was the JD (U) leaders in particular who took the stand that Cauvery waters could not be released to Tamil Nadu even after the Supreme Court and the Cauvery River Authority directed the State to do so.

On the abduction issue, they had insisted on suspending the STF operations against Veerappan and sending emissaries to him to secure the safe release of Nagappa.

The JD (U) group leader in the Assembly, P.G.R.Sindhia, said that they would demand a CBI probe into Nagappa's death.

It was necessary as the matter encompassed Tamil Nadu and also the Centre.

A judicial probe was inadequate as the judge could not take up investigation of the involvement of various individuals and forces.

Mr. Sindhia said that he would meet the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K.Advani, after the end of the session and brief him about the entire issue.

Mr. Advani might not have been briefed about all aspects of the issue, he said and expressed hope that the Centre would agree to a CBI probe. When it was pointed out that the State Government had to grant permission for a probe by the CBI on case by case basis, Mr. Sindhia said that whichever government was responsible for the withdrawal of the blanket permission given to the Central agency to take up investigation in the State, had acted wrongly (it was the Janata Dal Government which had done so).

Refuting the Congress's charge that the Opposition was giving a caste colour to the death of Nagappa, Mr. Sindhia demanded the Government as to why it used the good offices of the Swamiji of Suttur Math following the crisis created by the drowning of the gram panchayat member, Guruswamy, in the Kabini Reservoir during the protest over the release of waters to Tamil Nadu. It was the Government that made use of the swamijis when it was confronted by crises.

Asked whether he would raise the revelations made by the former DG-IGP, C.Dinakar, in his book on the abduction of the film star, Rajkumar, by Veerappan two years ago, Mr. Sindhia said that it was significant that some of them were borne out by the entries in the personal diary of Nagappa found in the forests.

Mr. Sindhia also said that the session was going to be too brief to discuss the many issues of concern to the State. The Government had this year faced the legislature for just 40 days after promising to hold the sessions for a minimum of 100 days in a year.

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