NEW DELHI: Former Union Minister Arun Nehru, a close aide of Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, on Sunday claimed Arjun Singh as Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister had taken the decision to release then Union Carbide CEO Warren Anderson after the Bhopal tragedy and that Gandhi had no role in it.
"It is obvious that Chief Minister Arjun Singh took the decision (to release Anderson) and informed the Centre according to the press conference which the CM had addressed on December 7, 1984. He was the person in-charge and he took the decision," Nehru told PTI.
He said the only authentic version of the episode could be got from the press interviews of Arjun Singh in 1984 and "to attribute any motive to Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi is wrong as the decision was taken by the CM".
He said a fresh controversy is being created unnecessarily when the facts were known and Singh had spoken on the issue in 1984 itself.
Nehru was a General Secretary of the Congress in 1984 and was campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections when the Bhopal gas tragedy took place. He fell out with Gandhi later and has no association with Congress or any other party now.
