Congress suffering from ''internal conflict'': Khanduri

Dehradun, Apr 22 (UNI) Uttarakhand Chief Minister Maj Gen (Retd) B C Khanduri said that the Congress in the state was suffering from its internal conflict.

Commenting on the Pradesh Congress Committee taking exception to his remark about scams during the Congress regime and its demand to conduct a CBI or Judicial probe, he told reporters that Congress leaders ''owing to their internal conflicts wanted to fix each other.'' ''I will defenitely hold a probe if I found any anomalies anywhere. I have given six months time to authorities concerned to check the files,'' he disclosed, adding that he had not forgotten his party's assurance in its manifesto to hold a probe on all scams that occured during the Congress tenure. ''However, there will be no political vendetta,'' he asserted.

The Congress had sent a memorandum to him few days back asking him to take back his statement claiming that 56 scams had occured during the Congress government's term.

''Probes would be definitely held wherever it would be found that government money had been misused and the government machinery manipulated,'' Maj Gen Khanduri asserted.

When asked about his election to the Assmebly, the Chief Minister said he had been too busy since he took over and never had time to mull over it. ''However as it is inevitable, the decision over the constituency would be taken in consultation with the party's national leadership,'' he said.

Asked about a report in a section of media in which he was alleged of irregularities during NDA regime when he was the Union Minister of Road, Transport and Highways, Maj Gen Khanduri said he was open to CBI or any other form of enquiry. Recalling another incident when he was alleged of taking Rs 25 lakhs as bribe, he said that he had immediately called a vigilance officer to probe the incident.

''It was reported that somebody had attached Rs. 25 lakh with his file forwarded to me as a bribe for consideration of his file'', he recalled.

Reacting on the question on ace shooter Jaspal Rana terming the amount (Rs 25 lakh) awarded to him by the state for his contribution to the sport ''insufficient'', the Chief Minister terming it an insignificant issue, said a sportsman of Jaspal Rana's stature was unlikely to react that way.

''There might be some communication gap, and differences, if at all, would be resolved through talk,'' he maintained.

UNI