New Delhi, June 11: Pressure mounted on Arjun Singh Friday to break his silence on allowing Union Carbide chief Warren Anderson to flee the country as senior Congress leaders dismissed any role of Rajiv Gandhi in it but one of his top aides said he may have been consulted.
 On his part, Singh, who was Madhya Pradesh chief minister in 1984 when the Bhopal Gas tragedy shook the state, maintained a stoic silence, refusing to speak to the media.
 Seeking to distance Rajiv Gandhi from the whole controversy, Congress leaders Digvijay Singh and R K Dhawan said the Centre had nothing to do with the  Anderson issue and it was for Arjun Singh to respond.
 A day after kicking up a controversy by reportedly alleging that US pressure could have led to Anderson leaving the country in December 1984, Digvijay Singh said he was unaware of the developments at that time as he had resigned as Minister in the Madhya Pradesh government and was campaigning for Lok Sabha polls.
 In an email response to PTI from the US where he is currently on a tour, he said the “people who can answer this” are “Arjun  Singhji, the then CM” as also Brahm Swaroop, the then Chief Secretary of Madhya Pradesh, Moti Singh, the then Collector of Bhopal, and Swaraj Puri, the then SP of Bhopal.
 He said Rajiv Gandhi had left his campaign and visited Bhopal immediately, visiting the affected areas and meeting the families of affected persons.
 “The government of India extended all possible help immediately to the state government,” Digvijay Singh said.
 Echoing Digvijay Singh’s views, R K Dhawan, Private Secretary to Rajiv Gandhi, said Arjun Singh was the “only person who can answer” how Anderson left the country.
 He said he did not believe that Rajiv Gandhi would have known about the developments or asked Arjun Singh to provide the airport to Anderson by which he flew out of Bhopal.
 Dhawan denied that Rajiv Gandhi had made any call to Arjun Singh relating to Anderson. “On the face of it, it looks as a suo motu decision by the State Government”.
 However, P C Alexander, former Principal Secretary to Rajiv Gandhi, said the decision on (letting off) Anderson could have been taken by the Prime Minister in consultation with the Chief Minister.

Lastupdate on : Fri, 11 Jun 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Fri, 11 Jun 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sat, 12 Jun 2010 00:00:00 IST