Congress washes hands off Unnao excavation matter

With 12 days of gold digging in a village in Uttar Pradesh on the basis of a seer's dream yielding no results, Congress on Tuesday washed its hands off the matter saying the party and the government have nothing to do with it as such decisions are taken by agencies concerned on technical ground.

"Any technical agency will take a decision on technical ground. Congress and government have nothing to do with it," party spokesperson PC Chacko said as the archaeological excavations did not find any gold supposed to be buried under the ruins of a 19th century fort in Unnao.

Pointed out that the excavation was done at the instance of Union minister Charan Das Mahant, who had urged the government to do it on the basis of seer Shoban Sarkar's dream, Chacko said that the minister might have given some preliminary information but the agencies would have done only after some examination.

"Anyway this was not a decision by the Congress," he said. The excavation work for gold at the fort of former king Raja Rao Ram Bux Singh in Daudia Kheera village has reached a depth of 4.8 metres and yielded only pottery and artefacts supposed to be dating back to first century BC.