Bhagalpur riots: Lalu makes guarded comments

Patna, Feb 26: Railway Minister Lalu Prasad has welcomed the fresh enquiry into Bhagalpur communal riots of 1989 but described such exercises as an attempt at ''eyewash'' by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

''The true colour of Mr Nitish Kumar was exposed to the people with the revelations in Banerjee committee which unraveled Mr Kumar's role as the then-Railway Minister in misleading the nation on the Godhra riots,'' Mr Prasad told reporters here yesterday.

Mr Kumar was now facing a crisis of credibility as a secular person and hence, he had ordered fresh enquiry into Bhagalpur incidents, he noted, and maintained that erstwhile RJD government took adequate steps for prosecution of rioters.

''In spite of that, if some more persons who escaped punishment can be booked through fresh enquiry, we welcome it,'' Mr Prasad said.

UNI