Gujarat legislators, MPs meet president over hooch tragedy

A delegation of Gujarat Congress legislators and parliamentarians led by the state Congress chief Siddharth Patel met President Pratibha Patil in New Delhi on Wednesday and sought her intervention in the Ahmedabad hooch tragedy issue which claimed 136 lives.

A delegation of Gujarat Congress legislators and parliamentarians led by the state Congress chief Siddharth Patel met President Pratibha Patil in New Delhi on Wednesday and sought her intervention in the Ahmedabad hooch tragedy issue which claimed 136 lives.

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The president received the memorandum from the legislators and MPs, spoke to them for about half an hour at Rashtrapati Bhavan and assured them that she would look into the matter, a senior Congress party member said.

The memorandum submitted to the president said that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Gujarat has not taken any serious action against those responsible for the July 7 hooch tragedy in Ahmedabad.

The delegation later also met Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar in New Delhi and submitted a copy of the memorandum to her too, seeking intervention in the Ahmedabad hooch tragedy issue.

While Kumar told the delegation that she has no jurisdiction to intervene in an issue raised in a state assembly, she would certainly urge Gujarat assembly Speaker Ashok Bhatt to look into the matter.