4 Congress members arrested on effigy burning incident

Gangtok, Aug 6 (UNI) Sikkim Pradesh Congress Committee president Nar Bahadur Bhandari today termed ''politically motivated'' the arrest of four Congress members for burning the effigy of the Governor on Saturday.

Police yesterday arrested the four Congressmen and slapped non-bailable charges on them. Those arrested include senior leader J B Darnal who is the party's general secretary for south district.

Condemning the arrest, Mr Bhandari said partymen will court mass arrest to express solidarity with their arrested colleagues.

Mr Bhandari also said the arrests were made on baseless allegations and wondered why top leaders, including himself, were not arrested.

''The state Congress has already informed the Prime Minister and the Congress president,'' he said.

Meanwhile, the state government said that the effigy burning incident had been viewed with grave concern.

''Such an act by the Sikkim Pradesh Congress Committee is not only an irresponsible one but also against the law and defies all principles of democratic norms,'' an official release said.

UNI