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PM blasts Congress

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has described as 'highly deplorable' the Congress Working Committee's decision to summarily expel Sharad Pawar, Purno A Sangma and Tariq Anwar from the party.

The three CWC members were expelled from the party yesterday.

In a statement in Calcutta, the prime minister said, ''Far from inviting and initiating a rational debate on the issues raised by the three leaders in their letter to the Congress president, the party's leadership suppressed it with the desperate act of expulsion.''

Prior to their expulsion, it even encouraged a nationwide atmosphere of hate targeted at the three senior leaders, he added.

He said, ''This shows that the Congress party has nothing but contempt for internal democracy, whose cornerstone is debate based on freedom of thought and expression.

''Recent history reminds us that whenever the Congress sought to crush dissent and debate on matters that are inconvenient to the party leadership, the country has had to pay a heavy price.''

The CWC's decision, therefore, is no longer an internal matter of the party. ''It smacks of fascism, and deserves denunciation from all those who hold democracy dear,'' he said.

He said 'nobody is convinced' with the Congress' attempt to describe the revolt as being 'Bharatiya Janata Party-inspired'.

''The issues raised by Pawar and his two colleagues have been echoed by important leaders of almost all political parties. The Congress party is trying to run away from this debate by indulging in sycophancy and false propaganda,'' he said.

UNI

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