Rashtrapati Bhavan not to send KRN's letters

AHMEDABAD: Rashtrapati Bhavan has once again refused to send copies of letters written by former President, the late K R Narayanan, to then prime minister Atal Bihari Vaypayee on troop deployment in Gujarat, during the post-Godhra riots in 2002.
    
Rashtrapati Bhavan told the Nanavati-Shah Commission, probing the Godhra train carnage and its aftermath, not to correspond in this regard anymore.
    
The panel has kept a further hearing on the matter on December 17.
    
Rashtrapati Bhavan had several times citied the `President's privilege' under the Constitution and had refused to send copies of the letters to the commission.

 

It consulted the United Progressive Alliance government in this regard after which the Under Secretary in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievance and Pension had written to the commission stating that the letters were "unpublished official records relating to the affairs of the State" and, therefore, could not be made public.
    
It had also told the commission that the contents of the letters ``would cause injury to public interest''.
    
An advocate representing a section of the riot-hit families had said the letters written by the President to the then prime minister could hold vital clues regarding the government's "inaction" in controlling the riots in Gujarat.