MUMBAI, July 1: Former chief minister, Sharad Pawar, today accused Shiv Sena chief, Bal Thackeray, of fomenting communal hatred during the January 1993 riots.

Appearing before the Srikrishna Commission on the second and the last day of his deposition, Pawar said Thackeray's statements in his party mouthpiece Saamna, like the one in which he patted his boys for demolishing the disputed structure at Ayodhya, incited the people to resort to violence.

``Thackeray should not have made such a statement at a time when the communal situation was tense,'' he said.

Pawar denied he had delayed the deployment of army in any way. He said the defence minister (the office he held when the trouble broke out) does not come into picture while taking logistic decisions.

Sudhakarrao Naik, who was the chief minister then, had accused Pawar of vacillation after the state government sought army's help in containing the riots.

Responding to a query from Justice Srikrishna on Naik's discontent with the army role between January 6 and 9, 1993, Pawar said the state authorities had asked for only flag marches until then. The army was authorised through the district magistrate the normal procedure followed in such cases to take action only on January 10, 1993, he said.

Pawar also indirectly blamed the BJP and its allies for betraying the trust of everyone including the Supreme Court and Parliament by demolishing the Babri Masjid. When asked why had the Home Ministry failed to alert the army on the trouble brewing in Ayodhya, he said: ``Though the Home Ministry had Intelligence reports about the possibility of kar sevaks damaging the Babri Masjid, we changed this assessment following assurances to the contrary by senior BJP leaders.''

Pawar also denied he had diluted the riot-related cases after he took over the reigns of the state from Naik. He said he took over as the chief minister on March 6, 1993 and the blasts occured on March 12, 1993.

``While in these six days I accorded utmost priority to the restoration of communal harmony, the indication of ISI involvement in the blasts led me to stress on the blasts investigation,'' he said.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.