Decks have been cleared to bury the sari tragedy which rocked the Bharatiya Janata Party’s boat in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls and brought Lalji Tandon under the Election Commission scanner.This follows the clean chit given by the EC to Tandon and Brijendra Murari Yadav, the chief organiser of the saree distribution ceremony.The poll panel’s observations on the BJP’s reply to the show-cause notice for violation of Model Code of Conduct, virtually exonerates Tandon and others, of the bribery charge under section 171 B of the IPC. According to highly-placed sources, the EC’s observations were delivered to the SP (Trans-Gomti) Dinesh Chandra Dubey on Saturday. Sources said as the EC in its observations had, at the outset, withdrawn the bribery charge which had been mentioned in the FIR, dated, April 17, 2004, it was just a matter of completing the formalities before the case is closed.However, the final decision will be that of the Lucknow Bench of Allahabad High Court.The observations also contain a ruling pertaining to the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. It says before Rajiv’s assassination, rice was distributed.
