Srikrishna report: 'Maharashtra govt ready to take more action'

Senior Congress leader Margaret Alva said on Wednesday that the Maharashtra government is ready to take action against those indicted by Justice Srikrishna Commission report on the 1992/93 Mumbai riots if the court tells it to do so amidst reports that Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh is seeking legal opinion to reopen the riot cases against politicians.

However, the Shiv Sena reacted angrily to any move to reopen the cases saying it amounts to saying "hang the Hindus" with an eye on Muslim votes.

Pointing out that Congress was "satisfied" about the action taken report on the basis of the commission report, Alva said, "If more is to be done, we are prepared to do it. Let the court tell us where the matter has to be carried out further."

Alva said she had gone through the action taken report and "we are satisfied with whatever has been done."

However, there was no official confirmation that Deshmukh is seeking the views of legal experts.

The commission's report blames among others Sena supremo Bal Thackeray for instigating attacks on Muslims.

The report was rejected by the Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party combine for being "one-sided", but it has again come to haunt the saffron parties following conclusion of the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts trial.

A report in Tuesday's Saamna, Shiv Sena newspaper, on this issue, says the demand for implementation of Justice Srikrishna's report is tantamount to saying "hang the Hindus."

"If the underlying objective (of this demand) is to target Shiv Sena, we know how to deal with such things. There would be repercussions across the state," Sena's Rajya Sabha member of Parliament and editor of Saamna Sanjay Raut told PTI.

"The report came nine years ago. It was rejected by the Assembly (when BJP-Shiv Sena was in power), which has people's representatives and therefore reflects popular sentiments. Nobody should try and defy popular sentiments," Raut said.

Raut said that in the last nine years, there has been no communal riots in the state, but some forces are trying to create tension.

Meanwhile, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi is understood to have sought a status report from Deshmukh on the action taken report on Srikrishna Commission recommendations.