NEW DELHI, 31 May 2004 - The Congress party wants a retrial of the Babri Mosque demolition case. The party also wants investigations into the Tehelka expose speeded up.
Senior party leader and union minister, Kapil Sibal, yesterday said that the mosque demolition case, from which BJP leader Lal Krishna Advani was "rescued" by the Central Bureau of Investigation, should be "put back on the rails" and the inquiry into Tehelka expose on corruption in defense deals during the National Democratic Alliance rule proceeded with transparency.
Sibal, who played a key role in Congress campaign during the recent elections, alleged the mosque demolition trial had been "derailed" with the CBI dropping Advani's name from the list of the accused and asserted that it should be "put back on rails" by proceeding against all those originally charged.
"The law was taking its course in the Ayodhya case and somebody diverted the legal process, that should be back on track," he told reporters.
Sibal also talked about taking to logical conclusion the pending inquiries into the Tehelka expose on defense deals as well as the controversial AK-47 deal.
In the Tehelka case, he said, no police report has been lodged until today although the offenses involved are criminal. He said Congress wanted the Tehelka Commission to carry on its inquiry in an impartial manner.
Meanwhile, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad has called a meeting next month to work out a fresh strategy to build a Ram temple in Ayodhya.
The VHP meeting, to be attended by its activists from all over the country, will focus on "sharpening" and "intensifying" the agitation for the construction of a temple at the site of the destroyed mosque, parishad sources said.
