Joshi gives Sena’s side of the story to the press

July 29: Chief Minister Manohar Joshi today tried to brush off allegations about the Sena's double standards in dealing with attacks on med...

July 29: Chief Minister Manohar Joshi today tried to brush off allegations about the Sena’s double standards in dealing with attacks on mediapersons.

In the face of an unexpectedly vociferous pack of scribes who persisted in questioning him about his party’s dubious track record with journalists, the CM preferred to duck most questions. He said he would not hesitate to sack his cabinet colleague Gulabrao Gawande if it was found that he was directly or indirectly involved in the midnight attack on a newspaper office at Akola on Sunday. This was sixth attack on the newspaper office during the last two months.

“Gawande has already condemned the attack. However, if it was proved that he was involved in it, I will sack him. But it will be improper to take any action against him merely on the basis of media reports,” said Joshi after the weekly cabinet meeting.

When members of the Press submitted that the home department was acting partially while dealing with cases involving Thane district Shiv Sena chief Anand Dighe and underworld don Arun Gawli, Joshi said he will seek details from the Commissioners of Police of Mumbai and Thane in both the cases.While in the First Information Report filed with the Thane police, journalist Pramod Bhagwat had mentioned the name of Dighe, in case of attack on Asian Age scribe Anandita Ramaswamy, she had not mentioned the name of Gawli. However, Joshi released contradictory information. He said Bhagwat did not mention the name of Dighe, while Ramaswamy did allege that Gawli was involved in the attack on her.When his attention was drawn on the attack on Sena activist Sandhya Wadhavkar in the office of Dighe, Joshi said he was personally looking into the attack. As the volley of questions continued, Joshi announced revival of a committee set up in September 1993 to curb the attack on journalists during the tenure of Sudhakarrao Naik. While Additional Chief Secretary (Home) P Subramanian will be the Chairman, Director General of Police, Commissioner of Police, noted journalists Aroon Tikekar (Editor, Loksatta), Vijay Kuwalekar (Editor, Sakal), Jatin Desai, Arvind Vaidya and Vidyadhar Date will be the other members of the committee.