NEW DELHI, June 11 � Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan today said his government will go to any extent to get justice for Bhopal gas victims and demanded an explanation from then Chief Minister Arjun Singh on how former Union Carbide CEO Warren Anderson fled the country, reports PTI.
�We will go to any extent to get justice for the victims...This is not an issue of Bhopal or the state. It should act as an example of how to give punishment in such cases,� he told reporters here.
Noting that the people of the state felt �let down� following the gas tragedy verdict, Chouhan said he has written to Arjun Singh and asked for a reply on the circumstances that led to Anderson�s escape.
�Let Arjun Singh explain it. Whether he did it (gave permission for providing state aircraft) himself or anybody told him to do so. We want a reply from him if a wrong direction was given. And after all, why such a direction was given.
�There are lot many questions like why the CBI filed no appeal when the charges in the case were diluted in 1997. If he gives a statement, things would be clear. The state and the country want to know these circumstances,� he said.
Chouhan said a five-member team of legal experts has been set up by the state government to look into the issue and examine what could be done legally to get Bhopal gas victims justice. The interim report of the team would be out in the next ten days, he said.
Asked about the conflicting statements of Congress leaders like Digvijay Singh and Satyavrat Chaturvedi on Anderson fleeing the country, Chouhan said he did not want to politicise the issue but added that this was only leading to confusion.
�Somebody is saying the Centre is responsible while somebody else says the issues comes under the state. Different people are speaking in different voices...One wants to protect somebody while the other wants to trap someone else.
�This is leading to confusion... Arjun Singh should speak the truth. What other Congress leaders are speaking is only bringing out the contradictions within the Congress party,� he said.
Meanwhile, CPI today demanded that Congress should come clean on how former Union Carbide chairman Warren Anderson fled the country after the Bhopal gas tragedy and refrain from trying to find a scapegoat.
�As is the practice in Congress, they always try to catch a scapegoat. They are experts. It is their practice to cover up the guilt at the Centre. Congress at the Centre and in the state (Madhya Pradesh), they are both responsible for what has happened. Congress should come clean (on the matter),� CPI General Secretary A B Bardhan told reporters here.
He wondered how Anderson, a man of high standing, could be let off without the knowledge of the Centre.
The CPI leader demanded that steps be taken for the extradition of US-based Anderson and for compelling him to face legal proceedings in the country.
