consensus: Patil

New Delhi, May 18 (UNI) The government today said it was ready to amend the laws to allow central intervention in a riot-hit area in the event of failure of state machinery if there was a consensus among political parties.

''We can amend the laws to better the communal situation in the country. If all want it, we will do it,'' Home Minister Shivraj Patil said while replying to the discussion on the communal riots in the country in the Lok Sabha.

Mr Patil admitted that allowing central intervention was a ''complicated issue'' and cannot be done without the concurrence of states and political parties.

''We are not going to thrust it on anybody,'' he added.

He, however, expressed confidence that the government would be able to gather the consensus of all political parties to evolve a mechanism to take rapid action in a riot-hit area.

He said imposing President's rule because of violence in only a part of a state was an ''extreme step''.

Earlier, during the debate under Rule 193, the Narendra Modi government in Gujarat came under sharp attack from the Congress, Left, the SP and the RJD for its ''poor record'' in curbing communal violence, the latest being the Vadodara riots that claimed six lives.

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