Rita briefs PM Singh on arson at her house

New Delhi, July 27 (PTI) India's Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh Monday expressed concern over the safety of Uttar
Pradesh Congress chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi whose house in
India's northern state of Uttar Pradesh's capital Lucknow was
burnt allegedly by Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supporters
recently.

"The Prime Minister was a little concerned about my
personal safety... He advised me to take care," Joshi told
reporters after meeting Singh and briefing him about the
sequence of events that led to the burning of her house and
her arrest by the UP police.

Alleging that there was breakdown in the law and order
situation in Uttar Pradesh, she said she told the Prime
Minister that it was a "state-sponsored violence of which she
was a victim".

Noting that she had no faith and trust in the Mayawati
government and the state police, she said the Congress party
was demanding a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe
into the arson at her house which, she alleged, took place in
the presence of senior state police officials.

She said she has moved the Lucknow Bench of the UP High
Court with a writ petition demanding a CBI probe.

On her controversial speech which led to her arrest, she
said she explained to the PM that "it was not intentional."

"I met the PM who is a very senior leader of my party
to explain my position. I told him that while raising the
issue of compensation of Dalit children at one place, I used
certain words for which I immediately expressed regret," Joshi
said, adding "but what happened in the aftermath clearly
indicated the mindset of UP government."

"The goondas of BSP under police patronage burnt down
my house. I told the PM that law and order has collapsed in UP
and there is a goonda raj. PM listened to me attentively," she
said.

Joshi said she also had a meeting with Congress party
president Sonia Gandhi during which only organisational
matters were discussed. PTI SPG
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