The RJD surpemo, however, has refused to budge from his position accusing Congress of not taking stringent action against the state government, which is headed by the Congress and NCP, another ally of the UPA is a partner in the state government.
Yadav is learnt to have also taken strong exception of the remarks made by state home minister R R Patil and union civil aviation minister Praful Patel justifying the attacks on the North Indians. He has made a demand to the prime minister Manmohan Singh to take action against Mr Patil and has also urged the NCP chief Sharad Pawar to initiate action against Mr Patel.
The leaders from Bihar cutting across party lines have demanded the state government to order judicial enquiry into the attacks and killings of North Indians in Maharashtra. This demand has put the ruling Congress party in an embarrassing situation as, if accepted, it would create a serious problem for the Central government, which had refused a similar demand in Batla house shoot-out in which two alleged terrorists were killed and two escaped. The Muslim organizations and human right outfits have been demanding a judicial enquiry on the ground that encounter was fake.
The issue of attacks on North Indians is likely to snowball into a major controversy that has the potential of putting the Congress-led UPA government at the centre in danger as RJD and LJP altogether has 28 MPs in Lok Sabha. In the event of their resignations the government reduces to minority. There are indications that Mr Singh is contemplating to convene an all party meeting on the matter to thrash out a solution.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilas Rao Desmukh has not yet responded to the strong letter written by the Prime Minister asking him to immediately stop such attacks. The Congress president Sonia Gandhi is expected to call a meeting of the senior party leaders later this week to discuss the issue that has currently rocked the country, particularly its northern parts. The most of the allies of the UPA are unhappy with the Congress and NCP for not arresting Thackrey under national security act.(EON)
India: Attacks on North Indians in Maharashtra
Indian minister embarasses his own government
Lalu adamant on urging legislators from Bihar to resign en masse
Kushal Jeena - 03-11-2008 10:33 GMT-0000
New Delhi: Embarrassed over the call given by the RJD chief and Railway Minister Lalu Yadav asking all MPs and legislators from Bihar to resign en masse in protest against the killing of north Indians in Maharashtra by henchmen of Raj Thackrey, the Congress high command has reportedly urged the agitated minister not to press further his demand as it would cause instability to the UPA government.