SP for probe into Jamia encounter

The Samajwadi Party on Saturday demanded a judicial probe into the Jamia Nagar encounter that followed the serial blasts in the Capital.

The Samajwadi Party SP on Saturday demanded a judicial probe into the Jamia Nagar encounter that followed the serial blasts in the Capital. The move is apparently prompted by the rising tide of Mayawati8217;s popularity in the party8217;s home turf, Uttar Pradesh, and the exigency of keeping its minority support base intact ahead of the elections. SP, whose support is crucial for the survival of the Congress-led UPA Government, also threatened to 8220;rethink8221; its support to the Government if the judicial inquiry found the men arrested after the blasts innocent.

8220;We SP extended our support to the UPA Government keeping the interests of minorities in mind, as we wanted to keep the BJP away from gaining ground in the country. If the judicial probe finds that those arrested for their involvement in the recent blasts are innocent, then our party will have to rethink the support it has extended to the UPA Government,8221; Amar Singh said during his visit to Jamia Nagar in the Capital on Saturday.

Singh8217;s threat came in the backdrop of the rising resentment of its minority support base regarding the arrests of Muslim youths, most of them from Azamgarh in eastern Uttar Pradesh, as suspects in the terror attacks in Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Delhi.

In fact, SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav had sent a team of senior party leaders, including Shivpal Yadav, Ahmed Hasan and Om Prakash Singh, to Azamgarh last week. While party claimed this visit was a part of its efforts to verify the situation on the ground in Azamgarh, it was also seen as an attempt to show its solidarity with the Muslim community.

With leaders from the ruling Congress party making noises that it needed to address 8220;questions raised8221; about the September 19 encounter in which two suspected terrorists were gunned down and another arrested, the SP general secretary went a step ahead and mounted an attack on the Congress, alleging: 8220;Home Minister Shivraj Patil was present in the Delhi Police Headquarters at the time of encounter in Jamia Nagar. With the Delhi Police chief in attendance, he was guiding the entire encounter in Jamia Nagar.8221;