Shivraj Flays Arjun Singh, Says Ex-CM Has Missing Links

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has slammed Arjun Singh who was Chief Minister of the state when gas tragedy occurred, said media reports.

“Arjun Singh has the missing links,” Chouhan was quoted as saying.

“I will go to whatever extent possible to get maximum relief for the victims. Arjun Singh should explain the circumstances under which this happened. It is time he made things clear for everyone. He must speak out,” he was quoted as saying.

On Monday, court sentenced seven Indian convicts to two years in jail in the case. However, the real sting lies in the fact that the American CEO Warren Anderson has never faced trial, successfully ignoring court summons from India.

So far Arjun Singh has declined to comment on the verdict or on the multiple accounts by bureaucrats and others that establish that it was his office that asked for Warren Anderson to be flown out of Bhopal on December 7, 1984.

Anderson, then the CEO of Union Carbide Corp, had flown into Bhopal a few hours earlier.  He was charged by the CBI with culpable homicide not amounting to murder.  After leaving Bhopal on the Chief Minister’s plane, he has never returned.

Now even Congressmen are questioning Arjun Singh’s role in the episode with Digvijay Singh saying while talking to a TV channel: “Rajivji left his campaign and came to Bhopal as PM. He did not release Anderson. Why don’t you ask any of the following persons: Swaraj Puri, then SP, Bhopal; Moti Singh; then collector Bhopal; Brahm Swarup, then Chief Secretary, and Arjun Singhji, then Chief Minister?”

The Congress also said in different press conferences that it would try to fix accountability.

Without naming Arjun Singh, party general secretary Janaradhan Dwivedi said, “The party has always maintained that all questions that are raised in any such situation must be answered properly and responsibility should be fixed. The same norm applies to this case.”

(Based on internet reports)