MUMBAI, July 14: Some Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ministers today condemned the Shiv Sena attack on the official residence of leader of Opposition in the council Chhagan Bhujbal and his assembly counterpart Madhukar Pichad.

They said they were shocked that the attack was led by a Member of Parliament (MP) and some Sena legislators and councillors were also involved in the act. ``Though Sena supremo Bal Thackeray has justified the attack on the grounds that they were expressing anger against Bhujbal, the incident has put the alliance government in a very embarrassing situation,'' a senior BJP minister said while speaking to The Indian Express. The attack on Bhujbal's house was made at a time when the killing of 10 dalits by policemen was already proving to be a major problem for the alliance.

``We were hoping that the anger of dalits against the government would subside in a few days, but the attack on Bhujbal's house has become a new weapon for the crisis-ridden opposition,'' the minister said. Most ministers were of the opinion that the Centre would now take steps against the alliance government. ``Though it will not dismiss the government on the pretext of failure of law and order, it may demand the removal of Deputy Chief Minister Gopinath Munde, who was in the forefront while attacking senior Congress leaders, when he (Munde) was the leader of opposition,'' another minister said.

He said these incidents had put the alliance in a difficult situation. It all began with the attack on anti-Enron crusader Medha Patkar by the police. Then youth Congress president Anees Ahmed was seriously injured. This was followed by an attack on Congress legislator Ashok Mohol at Pune allegedly by Sena workers. Though Sena ministers refused to condemn the incident, some of them felt that attacking Bhujbal's house had been wrong. ``No doubt that ever since he defected to Congress, there was discontent against him, but the method of expressing anger was incorrect,'' a Sena minister added.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.