CPI alleges Home minister responsible for stalemate in talks

Jaipur, Nov 10 (UNI) The Communist Party of India (CPI) has alleged that the Rajasthan Home Minister Gulab Chand Kataria was responsible for the stalemate in talks between the agitating farmers in Sriganganagar and the government.

Addressing a press conference here today, CPI state secretary Dushyant Ojha asked , ''Even when the post-mortem report has not pinpointed any particular reason for the death of farmer Chandu Ram, how can the Home minister come to the conclusion that the death is not due to lathicharge?'' He alleged that the Home Minister had given press statements negating the police repression as the cause for death of the farmer.

He said the government would be living in a fool's paradise if it thought that it had succeeded in suppressing the agitation. They accused the government of breach of faith as one of the ministers of the Raje government had given an assurance on the package of compensation to the family of Chandu Ram. ''Now the government is backtracking on its assurance on flimsy grounds.'' Farmer leader Tara Chand Sindhu alleged that although the government had spent more than Rs three crore for the repression of the farmers stir in Ganganagar, it had not announced compensation to the farmer killed in the police lathicharge.

They announced that the farmers would not allow any government official to enter the village till the matter was settled. ''No government official will be allowed put his steps in the village till the matter is settled,'' announced the CPI leaders.

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