Digvijay demands ban on Bajrang Dal

Rajnandgaon, Chhattisgarh, Oct 3 (UNI) Congress General Secretary and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijay Singh has demanded a ban on the Bajrang Dal in view of violence in Orissa and several other places.

''Those owing allegiance to the Vishwa Hindu Parishad were caught making bombs. Incidents took place in Neemuch, Nanded, Kanpur and Karnataka. Those arrested confessed to setting off blasts in mosques. The work of the Students Islamic Movement of India and the Dal are similar,'' he alleged to mediapersons here late last evening while en route to Dongargarh's Ma Bamleshwari shrine.

When asked about implementation of the Anthony Committee's recommendations in distribution of Congress tickets for assembly polls in four states, Mr Singh said that the Committee had set neither guidelines nor qualifications but only set a time limit that tickets should be distributed soon after the hustings were announced.

''Corruption, nepotism and commission-mongering will be the Congress' key poll issues in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. The Congress has been raising these issues in the Vidhan Sabha. There is no groupism in our party in these states,'' he added.

To a query on whether Amethi MP Rahul Gandhi's would be elevated as Prime Minister, Mr Singh claimed that Mr Gandhi had all the capabilities and qualities that a good premier but it depended on the public as to when the time would be ripe.

''Chhattisgarh's Bharatiya Janata Party regime is misusing central schemes. Heavy corruption has taken place and benefits have not reached the public. The state government is renaming central schemes. The amounts doled out to state governments over the past five years are unprecedented,'' Mr Singh alleged.

UNI XC-AC 1845