Former Guj CMs to boycott Narmada show

Ahmedabad, Jan 18 (UNI) Turning down Chief Minister Narendra Modi's invitation to attend the public dedication ceremony of the Sardar Sarovar Project, three former Gujarat chief ministers -- Chhabildas Mehta, Shankarsinh Vaghela and Dilip Parikh (all Congress) -- today said they did not want to be a party to the ''cheap publicity gimmick''.

Terming the function as ''nothing but showbaazi'', they said if the government wanted to spend money, it should be doing so for development purposes.

Addressing a press conference here, Mr Vaghela said the project is a national project and yet to be completed.

''Construction work of canals and sub-canals is not even half complete. What was the need for this programme now? After its completion, the Prime Minister or the President should have been invited for the inauguration. This show is another example of the Chief Minister's hunger for publicity.'' He said the people of Gujarat know that the Congress has always worked for the progress of the Narmada project whenever it was embroiled in any controversy.

''While the environmental clearance for the project was given during the Rajiv Gandhi regime, it was the Manmohan Singh government that supported the dam's height increase when the matter was heard in the Supreme Court. But Mr Modi had tried to take all the credit for the project by resorting to a five-star feast, last year,'' Mr Vaghela said.

Joining in, Mr Mehta said Gujarat had always wanted the height of the dam to be raised to 455 ft, but then Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh had said his state would have no objection to a 430 ft dam height. ''Now the height is not even 400 ft. So why this celebration?'' he asked.

Stating that the power generation too has not reached its optimum capacity, he said Mr Modi was ''trying to fool'' the people of the country. He also alleged that flow of the water has been obstructed for a week now, so as to allow the uninterrupted functioning of six gensets of 200 mw during the show.

Mr Parikh said the function was more a show of strength for the Chief Minister. ''Instead of indulging in these shows, he should first answer why is the function being held now when water has reached only 2500 out of the targetted 8000 villages?'' he asked.

Also, chief ministers of Rajasthan and Maharashtra, who had been invited for the programme, will not be making it to the Narmada show. Only MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan will be participating.

Even former BJP chief ministers -- Suresh Mehta and Keshubhai Patel -- are also unlikely to attend the programme. While Mr Mehta is believed to be in Kutch for ''some important engagements'', Mr Patel may excuse himself on health grounds, sources said.

UNI