Azad: As BJP seeks CBI probe,Cong tells Mamata go to court

With the BJP pouncing on the opportunity provided by Mamata Banerjee to demand a CBI probe...

With the BJP pouncing on the opportunity provided by Mamata Banerjee to demand a CBI probe into the death of Maoist spokesperson Cherukumari Rajkumar alias Azad on the lines of the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case,the Congress suggested that theTrinamool Congress chief could approach a court of law or the NHRC on the issue.

The Congress has never been a supporter of fake encounters… We are not in the business of handling out certificates about the genuineness of any police or administrative action. It is not our job to comment upon every administrative action, Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said.

Adding to the Congresss Mamata discomfiture was the BJPs call for a CBI probe. While it attacked Mamata inside Parliament,outside it drew a parallel with the Sohrabuddin case.

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The Sohrabuddin encounter is an old case but the government has ordered a CBI inquiry. Here the matter is more serious as a Central minister is saying that the Maoist leader was murdered. We feel a CBI inquiry should be ordered into the death of Azad, said Gopinath Munde.

Tewari said Mamata could always go to the NHRC and courts. She is a Union minister and an ally. If an ally has a certain perception about a particular issue,same benchmark of institutions available also applies to the ally.

Karat rules out tie-up with Cong

HYDERABAD: At the end of the partys Extended Meeting in Vijayawada,CPM general secretary Prakash Karat ruled out forging any alliance with the Congress. A Review Report was placed at the meeting,following which Karat said that it was felt that the withdrawal of support to the first UPA government in 2008 was a necessary move though its timing was wrong. ens