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February 16, 1998

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Kesri suspects RSS hand in Coimbatore blasts

Congress president Sitaram Kesri said he suspected a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh hand in the blasts in Coimbatore on Saturday as the group was capable of 'doing anything'.

Reacting to the blasts that have claimed 81 lives, Kesri said the intention was to generate fear. Asked what made him to suspect a RSS hand in the blasts, Kesri replied, ''We all know what happened on January 30, 1948 (the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi).''

When attention was drawn to the DMK government's ban on two Muslim fundamentalist organisations, the Congress president said, ''I have my own doubts if they have done it. It may be the hand of the RSS.''

He said that political polarisation had begun after Sonia Gandhi began campaigning, and that the Congress was now on the fast track. The blasts were an attempt to improve the chances of the Bharatiya Janata Party, its sister organisation, he said.

BJP general secretary Kushabhau Thakre has described Kesri's allegation as "ridiculous." Why would the RSS want to harm Advani, he asked.

UNI

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