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Congress will start legal proceedings against Thackeray and Co

The Congress has decided to move the Bombay high court and initiate legal proceedings against all those indicted by the Srikrishna Commission report, including Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray, state president Prataprao Bhosale said today.

Addressing a press conference in Bombay, Bhosale said the party is consulting legal experts and a decision will be taken by next week.

The suggestion to initiate criminal cases against Thackeray, Chief Minister Manohar Joshi, Shiv Sena MP Madhukar Sarpotdar, Minister of State for Home Gajanan Kiritikar has been made by the Ramrao Adik committee which was set up by Bhosale to study the Commission findings which probed the 1992-93 communal riots in Bombay.

He said the committee has also suggested revival of inquiry against Thackeray under the Indian Penal Code which was initiated by the previous Congress government. The case was withdrawn by the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance government in 1996. Besides this action, it has also been suggested that a writ petition be filed against the Sena chief and all others who indulged in inflammatory writings and speeches and persuade the state government to take action against them. He also said it has been suggested that they should also be tried for trying to defame the Commission.

Bhosale said the Ramrao Adik committee submitted its report to him yesterday. The 11-member panel was set up early this month to study the report, which was termed as ''biased'' and rejected by the state government.

When asked whether he demanded action against former chief minister Sudhakar Naik for the delay in controlling the volatile situation, he reiterated that his party demanded action against all those indicted by the Commission.

He said a clear distinction should be made regarding the intention of those who want to create disturbances by instigating riots and those proved inefficient in controlling it. He remained non-committal when asked why the previous government did not take action against Thackeray, when they had full power to do so. He also admitted that the Sena chief was encouraged more because the previous Congress government did not take action against him.

Bhosale said his party believed in Gandhism and said it would resort to all democratic methods to seek action against all those indicted by the commission report.

UNI

EARLIER REPORTS:
Minority groups challenge Srikrishna report rejection in Supreme Court
Congress to launch countrywide agitation on Srikrishna report
'I hate these commissions, they can't understand the difference between judgment and recommendations'
Samajwadi Party announces mass campaign over Srikrishna report
Maharashtra rejects Srikrishna report as being 'biased against Hindus'
Srikrishna blames Thackeray's inflammatory writings for fanning riots

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