Sunday, May 8 2005 17:38 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Senior IAS officer L V Saptharishi, who created a political storm by alleging that Election Commissioners B B Tandon and N Gopalaswamy had attempted to countermand Lok Sabha polls in Railway Minister Lok Sahba consitutency Chapra in Bihar, today (May 8, 2005) accused them of making casteist remarks against Yadavs.

At a press conference in New Delhi, Saptharishi, who was Special Observer in Bihar during the polls, said that after he submitted his report about Chapra, Tandon had asked him who was the Superintendent of Police of the district and where was he from.

"I said he is some Yadav, may be from Bihar or UP. Then Tandon reacted, no matter where he is from all Yadavs are same", he claimed.

Saptharishi claimed Gopalaswamy had said, "We will have to take some drastic steps against Laloo Prasad Yadav".

Maintaining that there was nothing in his report, which could have warranted countermanding of elections in Chapra, he said "I was shocked to hear this" (about countermanding).

Asked why he was making it public after a year, he said it was because Tandon is taking over as Chief Election Commissioner later this month.

Asked if there was any proof of his allegations against the two Election Commissioners, he said that he was ready to swear affidavits of what he said in his letter to Law Minister H R Bharadwaj.

He parried questions about going to court on the issue. At present working as Director General of the Council for Advancement of People's Action and Rural Technology (CAPART), the West Bengal cadre IAS officer denied that he was making these allegations because he could not become a secretary.