Date:01/11/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/11/01/stories/2008110155421200.htm

New Delhi

Amar Singh seeks all-party meeting on Maharashtra

Gargi Parsai

NEW DELHI: The Samajwadi Party on Friday charged that the Centre as well as the State government were “fully responsible” for not being able to ensure the safety of north Indians in Maharashtra, but ruled out withdrawing support to the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government that it supports from outside.

Expressing disappointment with the inability of the Centre to contain incidents of violence against north Indians in the UPA-ruled Maharashtra, SP general secretary and spokesman Amar Singh told journalists that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should convene an all-party meeting to take “decisive action” on Maharashtra.

On the continuing incidents of violence, despite the Prime Minister having written and spoken to Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, he said, despite the Prime Minister’s repeated intervention, the State government had failed to curb violence against north Indians.

“The issue should be discussed in an all-party meeting There should be decisive action by the Centre to ensure everybody’s safety and security,” he said.

Congress, NCP blamed

Squarely blaming the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), “who were allies at the Centre as well as in the State,” Mr. Singh saw merit in the charge that the coalition government in the State was “soft pedalling” on Maharashtra Navnirman Sena leader Raj Thackeray to counter Shiv Sena’s Bal Thackeray.

“If government takes stern action, Mr. Raj Thackeray can be controlled. But there seems to be no government in Maharashtra. The Prime Minister should evaluate the situation,” he said.

To a question on whether the SP could withdraw support to the UPA on the issue, he said that the ``relevance” of his party’s support had ended soon after the ruling coalition had won the trust vote in Lok Sabha on July 22. Still, he was hopeful that the Prime Minister and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi would act in Maharashtra

Appealing to Bihar leaders Lalu Prasad and Ramvilas Paswan not to insist on performing “chhath puja” [in the first week of November] in Mumbai, he said his party had no intention of doing so in the interest of maintaining peace. “The situation there is explosive.”