Seeking to corner the BJP regime in Gujarat over the recent hooch tragedy,a delegation of Congress MLAs from the state met President Pratibha Patil on Wednesday,seeking her intervention. The delegation comprising Congress legislature party leader Shaktisinh Gohil,state party chief Siddharth Patel,senior party leader Arjun Modhwadia and NCP legislator Jayant Patel drew the attention of the President to the constitutional disregard and complete collapse of governance in Gujarat as wells as high-handedness and autocratic behaviour of the state government. We have demanded constitutional intervention. Now,this is in the jurisdiction of Her Excellency to ask for a report on the state politics or whatever is needed. President has certain powers under Article 355 and 356. The President in her wisdom should take some steps to restore democracy in Gujarat, said Gohil.The MLAs accused the state government of high-handedness for not allowing a debate on hooch tragedy that had claimed over 150 lives in Ahmedabad. Later,the delegation submitted a memorandum to the President which said the democracy has been totally gagged in the state. It also described the way in which the Congress MLAs who were trying to perform their constitutional right by raising the issue of the hooch tragedy in the state Assembly were denied their right. The memorandum said that when the hooch-related deaths were first reported on July 5 and Congress demanded a discussion on it,Minister of State for Home Amit Shah tried to keep the tragedy under wraps by telling the House that the deaths took place because of consumption of illicit liquor at a party thrown by a father-son duo. When the death toll crossed 100,the memorandum said,the Congress demanded adjournment of the House seeking discussion on the tragedy. Instead of permitting a debate,all the Congress members were suspended in an undemocratic and unconstitutional manner, read the memorandum. Alleging that democracy has become a farce in Gandhis Gujarat,the memorandum said,it is dictatorship even in the state Assembly. It further said that when the Congress insisted on having a debate on the tragedy,marshals were summoned and Congress members were thrown out of the House. In the melee,some microphones were broken and Congress members were given a bill to reimburse the cost,the memorandum noted,adding that the Speaker even expunged the incident from the records of the House and restricted media from reporting it. It said as the MLAs were not allowed to raise the hooch issue in the House,they walked up to Mahatma Gandhis statue for a prayer within the premises of the Assembly but were assaulted by armed BJP goons. Allegations were also levelled that Congress MLAs damaged religious structure in the Assembly premises for vested political interests,it said. Stating that alcohol was freely available all over the state despite prohibition in the state,the memorandum said the Gujarat High Court had taken suo motu notice of it and sought explanation from the state government. Alleging that the ruling party politicians were hand in glove with the bootleggers,it said BJP corporators were responsible for Ahmedabad hooch tragedy. The memorandum also levelled allegations against Modi sharing the dais with infamous bootlegger Pravin Chauhan,son of BJP MP Prabhatsinh Chauhan,during the last Lok Sabha elections in Godhra. When a chief minister hobnobs with a bootlegger,the police naturally go soft on anti-socials, stated the memorandum. The delegation had earlier met Congress president Sonia Gandhi. AICC general secretary in-charge of the state BK Hari Prasad said,The Chief Minister of Gujarat is not ready to allow a debate by Congress MLAs over the issue and has crushed democracy there. We are not being allowed to raise peoples voice over the issue.
