Congress should come clean on Anderson issue: CPI

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 AB 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. 

"All those who are responsible, both at the Centre and in the state (Madhya Pradesh) must be brought to book. A multi-disciplinary probe must be initiated into the whole affair. A new law must be enacted so that the vicarious responsibility of those, who are at the helm, is also taken into account in a criminal case," Bardhan said.

Highlighting the portrayal of the US providing access to 26/11 conspirator David Headley to India as a sign of growing bilateral ties, he said America should facilitate the extradition of Anderson in the same spirit.