Wednesday, March 8 2006 16:06 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Training the guns on Railway Minister Lalu Prasad after a hiatus, Leader of Opposition L K Advani today(Mar 8,2006) said he ought to have resigned in the wake of the Gujarat High Court 'strictures' over the U C Banerjee Committee report on the Godhra train fire being made public.

Alleging that the Banerjee Panel report was aimed at 'letting off the culprits and the accused', he told reporters here, "The High Court has to pass strictures against the report being made public. It was virtually against the Railway Minister. He ought to have resigned".

It is for the first time that the BJP has targeted Lalu Prasad after abandoning its campaign against 'tainted ministers' following the NDA's victory in Bihar Assembly polls.

Both Advani and Prasad have been at loggerheads ever since the latter brought the then BJP Chief's Somnath-Ayodhya Rathyatra to a grinding halt at Samastipur in 1990 and arrested him.

Advani said the accused in the Godhra train fire were denied bail by both the judiciary in Gujarat and the Supreme Court.

The Leader of Opposition regretted that for the past two days, the ruling Congress, its allies and the Leftists were 'vying with one another who would adjourn the House first' over the Godhra report despite the Prime Minister's reply on Iran being listed in the Business.

He also charged the Government with committing 'contempt of court' by virtually reviving the IMDT struck down by the Supreme Court through amendments to the Foreigners'Act.