Pranab's car halted over Netaji issue

Kolkata, June 18 (UNI) Forward Bloc supporters blocked the car of Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee and staged a demonstration here today demanding that the Mukherjee Commission report on Netaji's disappearance be tabled in Parliament.

Police arrested eight persons, belonging to Students' Bloc, a frontal organisation of Forward Bloc, in connection with the incident which took place when Mr Mukherjee was about to enter the city's Taj Bengal hotel to inaugurate the Annual General meeting of Merchants Chamber of Commerce.

The demonstrators sprung up on the road just outside the hotel stopping the Minister's car from moving inside leading to a scuffling with securityment. They were dragged away enabling Mr Mukherjee's car to roll inside.

Later, Students' Bloc said in a statement that the organisation would hold demonstration whenever a Union Minister visited the city.

It held Mr.Mukherjee responsible allegedly for not laying the Commission report in Parliament.

The statement alleged that police had lathicharged the demonstrators.

However, Mr Mukherjee said the Government had already laid the report in Parliament and called for a discussion, which could not take place because of disturbances by BJP members.

'' We wanted a discussion on the subject. But the BJP disrupted the proceedings in Parliament and the discussion could not take place, '' he said.

This was the second demonstration Mr Mukherjee faced over the past twentyfour hours after a section of Indian Statistical Institute(ISI) employees put up an agitation over their long standing demands when the Defence Minister entered the ISI premises yesterday to participate in a Coucnil meeting.

UNI KDG BA RD MP KN2000