Quit on moral ground, Chouhan tells Soz

Bhopal, Jul 11 (UNI) Buoyed by the Supreme Court refusing to stay construction of the Sardar Sarovar Project on the Narmada, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan today sought Union Minister for Water Resources Saifuddin Soz's resignation on moral ground saying the latter's committee's report to the Prime Minister on rehabilitation was based on rumours and unfounded information.

''Mr Soz must reconsider whether he should continue to be a member of the union cabinet after losing moral ground,'' Mr Chouhan told reporters here.

The Supreme Court's decision to continue construction work on the basis of the report submitted by the Relief and Rehabilitation Oversight Group headed by V K Shunglu put a question mark on the report of the Group of Ministers led by Mr Soz, the Chief Minister said.

Other members of the group, which visited the rehabilitation sites in western Madhya Pradesh two months ago, were Social Justice Minister Meira Kumar and MoS in the PMO Prithviraj Chouhan.

Alleging the Group of Ministers visited the rehabilitation sites without taking the state government into confidence, he said the group did not hold discussion with the Madhya Pradesh government during or after visit. Rather, the report was leaked to the media before submitting it to the Prime Minister, he added.

The Group of Ministers misinterpreted the facts and an attempt was made to create animosity between two states by projecting that ''negligence of'' Madhya Pradesh would ''cost dearly'' to Gujarat, Mr Chouhan said.

The Group of Ministers x x x picking up from fourth para of DR 36.

UNI PKJ-SP PA HT1820