Deshmukh visits Delhi to find ways to retain minority vote

New Delhi, Aug 11 (UNI) Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh today met Congress leadership, including party chief Sonia Gandhi, for consultations to find ways and means to retain the Muslim vote bank in his state in the aftermath of final verdict in the 1993 serial bomb blasts in the country's commercial and entertainment capital.

After the designated court in Mumbai convicted and sentenced 100 accused, including ten to death, in the blast case last month, demand for prosecution of those arraigned in the Justice Srikrishna Commission report for rioting in Mumbai prior to the multiple blasts has been made by various sections of the society.

Though the Shiv Sena-BJP government in Maharashtra had rejected the report in 1995 but subsequently revived it at the behest of then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the Congress-NCP government, which has been in power since 1999, too, has not acted on the findings of the report which indicted certain political leaders of the Shiv Sena and police officials.

The Congress party sources in Maharashtra said the demand for action on the Srikrishna Commission report and allegation against certain party leaders in usurping waqf board land in the state forced the Chief Minister to rush to Delhi to seek guidance of the party high command on containing damage to its Muslim vote bank.

The sources said a section of the Congress leadership also saw an opportunity to pin down Mr Deshmukh on the twin issues and try for change to give sufficient time to the new Chief Minister to repair damage and woo back the Muslim votes ahead of the coming Lok Sabha elections in 2009. Mr Deshmukh, who earlier also could not complete his term as Chief Minister, is now half-way through his current five-year tenure. He was sworn in on November 1, 2004.

Though Mr Deshmukh did not check in Maharashtra Sadan in the city during his daylong visit, officials confirmed that the Chief Minister is on a ''political visit'' to the city to meet Congress leaders, including the party president. He will fly back to Mumbai in the evening.

In view of the public pressure, the Chief Minister recently stated in the State Assembly that his government was ready to reopen cases where victims had genuine grievances that investigation into cases of rioting was not done properly. A large number of Muslims had lost their lives in two phases of communal violence in 1992-93 in the aftermath of demolition of Babri mosque at Ayodhya. Not a single politician or a police official has been held guilty for communal violence so far.

Besides seeking trial of those arraigned by the Srikrishna Commission, various Muslim organisations have had also been demanding adequate compensation for loss of lives and properties during the rioting.

Most convicts in the serial blasts case attributed their action to the riots in which some were affected directly or indirectly and others felt enraged for lack of action by the state government in arresting and prosecuting the accused.

The sources said the Chief Minister was also under pressure from the party high command to reopen riot cases which were closed after cursory investigation during the first term of Congress-NCP rule in the state in 1999-2004. The Congress, in its election manifesto in 2004, had promised to reopen investigation. Mrs Sonia Gandhi had earlier sought a report from the State Government as to what action it had taken to fulfil the poll promise. Mr Deshmukh, sources said, airdashed to Delhi to explain it to the party leadership.

UNI