Pulled up by Sonia Gandhi for the Kherlanji massacre and the unrest in state, Vilasrao Deshmukh distances himself from his deputy.
MUMBAI: Under fire for the Kherlanji massacre and unrest in the state over the desecration of a bust of Dr B R Ambedkar in Kanpur, Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh on Saturday distanced himself from Home Minister R R Patil, calling the incidents as a ‘home department problem’.
Patil is also the deputy chief minister of the state and a member of the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party.
Asked to comment on the lone survivor of the massacre Bhaiyalal Bhotmange meeting Congress president Sonia Gandhi — after which Deshmukh was pulled up — the chief minister said the home department took adequate action after Bhotmange met Patil.
“All those named as accused have been arrested. The Kherlanji case has been handed over to the CBI and the government has given the Republican Party of India leaders a patient hearing,” he said, after a meeting of Congress leaders at Sahyadri. Deshmukh denied that Sonia was unhappy with the way his government had handled the situation.
A senior Congress legislator and a former minister told DNA that Sonia is unlikely to go in for a change of guard in Maharashtra. He said the party doesn’t want to create the impression that it succumbed to opposition pressure. “But Soniaji may choose to remove Deshmukh once the situation cools down,” he said.
But MRCC president and Member of Parliament Gurudas Kamat’s sudden exit from the meeting to attend an “urgent meeting” got the tongues wagging. Several Congress leaders said that Deshmukh will have a tough time, especially with the winter session of the assembly starting in Nagpur from December 4.
Deshmukh described the call for a morcha on December 4 by all parties in Nagpur on the first day of the winter session of the assembly as a ‘political stunt’.
“Bandhs and morchas have all been done before. We have accepted their demands, be it handing over the probe to CBI, arresting the accused or setting up fast track court to try the case,” he said. Deshmukh urged the RPI (Athavale) leaders to postpone their December 4 morcha to a later date.
Meanwhile, RPI leaders objected to Nagpur city police commissioner denying them permission to hold a morcha to protest police inaction and RR Patil’s ‘indifference’. They also made a demand to the chief minister to make Patil a co-accused in the case.
Patil refuted their claim. “If they don’t take my name they would not make news,” he said.
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