Gujarat minister resigns

Gujarat minister Amit Shah,facing charges of kidnapping and murder of alleged gangster Sohrabuddin Sheikh and his wife Kauser Bi...

Gujarat minister Amit Shah,facing charges of kidnapping and murder of alleged gangster Sohrabuddin Sheikh and his wife Kauser Bi,resigned today. He continued to dodge CBI investigators,however,and nothing was known of his whereabouts.

Chief Minister Narendra Modi,to whom Shah is considered close,said in New Delhi that the elusive Minister of State for Home had sent in his resignation,and that he (Modi) had accepted it. Modi,however,continued to defend Shah,describing him as a totally innocent and law-abiding citizen faced with a fabricated case.

Top sources in the BJP said the decision to ask Shah to step down was taken at the highest levels of the party,which did not want to give the Congress a chance to question a chargesheeted ministers continuance in office. With Parliament beginning on Monday,this,sources said,would have weakened the BJPs government-is-misusing-the-CBI argument and a decision was taken therefore to ask Modi to swallow the bitter pill.

Modi,who was in the Capital to attend the meeting of the National Development Council (NDC),alleged that the Centre was employing a pick and choose policy to target Gujarat. Shah,he said,would fight the issue legally,and expressed confidence that he would get justice.

Modi rejected the argument that accepting Shahs resignation amounted to accepting that he was guilty. BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said,defending him is one thing,but he is equally aware of his constitutional responsibilities.

Modi said the UPA government had foisted false charges on Shah to deflect attention from its failure to deal with the unrest in Kashmir,the Maoist surge,and the loss of face during the talks with Pakistan. The conspiracy against Shah,he said,was intended to place obstacles in Gujarats development march.

During the 2007 Assembly elections,the Congress has projected Sohrabuddin as a national hero. But the party was defeated very badly in the elections. The case (against Shah) is an attempt to take revenge by the Congress, Modi said.

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There were more than 700 cases of encounters across the country,and several cases were pending before the NHRC and Supreme Court,Modi said. This is a case of pick-and-choose against Gujarat.

The chief minister also brought up the Afzal Guru case,and said that the government speaks of chronological orders when it comes to hanging Afzal,but prioritises when it has to use the CBI to target Gujarat.

When CBI summoned state government officials,they were given eight to ten days time but Amitbhai was given only one hour. He should have been given more time. He was asked to come over only for talks but soon after,the CBI presented a 20,000 page chargesheet in the court, Modi said.