Saturday, August 20 2005 15:30 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Jumping on to the anti-Modi bandwagon in his campaign against L K Advani, disgruntled Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Madan Lal Khurana today (Aug 20, 2005) demanded immediate removal of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi to clear the 'taint' on the party due to the Gujarat riots.

He also accused party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Government of failing to provide justice or rehabilitate the 1984 anti-Sikh riot victims and Kashmiri Pandit refugees despite being in power for six years.

The former Delhi Chief Minister, in a letter to the BJP President, said the "accused in the shameful Gujarat carnage are still roaming freely".

The party could fight for justice for the anti-Sikh riots only after it 'punishes those responsible' for the 2002 riots, he added.

Khurana cited the example of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who had removed Jagdish Tytler from his Council of Ministers and apologized to the nation for the 1984 riots to clean the 'taint' on his party.

In a similar way, "BJP should also immediately remove Narendra Modi from Chief Minister's post to clean the stain on it," Khurana said in the letter to Advani.

Virtually holding Modi guilty for the 2002 riots in his state, the BJP leader cited critical observations made by the Supreme Court on the role of the Chief Minister.

He noted that Modi had been accused of 'fomenting riots' instead of controlling these.

Khurana also noted that former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Advani himself had expressed regrets over the riots.