Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Sunderlal Patwa said here on Monday that senior Congress leader Arjun Singh should clarify who had called him up from Delhi and what was he told immediately after the arrest of former Union Carbide chairman Warren Anderson in the state capital on December 7, 1984. Mr Patwa was
addressing a press conference flanked by state Bharatiya Janata Party president Prabhat Jha at the party headquarters here. He said that Mr Singh will have to answer why he is keeping quiet and refusing to speak up. He said that Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee has turned the whole issue of Mr Anderson’s release within hours of his arrest after the Bhopal gas disaster towards Mr Singh.
Mr Patwa told mediapersons that he has definite information that Mr Singh had received a telephone call from Delhi and said that it is for him to tell the people who was responsible for setting Mr Anderson free.
The Prime Minister has asked the group of ministers on Bhopal to submit a report on the gas disaster and the interrelated legal issues, Mr Patwa said adding that it is an open and shut case and every bit of information is already in public domain.
Answering a pointed query, Mr Patwa said that Mr Singh is certainly guilty but the person who had instructed him to release Mr Anderson is even guiltier.
State BJP president Prabhat Jha utilised the opportunity to tell journalists that the BJP national executive has decided to take up the Bhopal gas disaster issue at the national level.