PUNE, July 26: Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) president Ranjit Deshmukh today reiterated his party's stand on dismissal of the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alliance government and the arrest of Sena chief Bal Thackeray under the National Security Act (NSA).

Talking to mediapersons at Congress Bhawan here, Deshmukh said the Pradesh Congress will await the scheduled discussion on the law and order situation in Parliament on Tuesday and chalk out a course of action depending on the outcome of the debate.

When asked what the State Congress planned to do in case the Centre rejected their demand for dismissing the alliance Government, Deshmukh said ``we will resort to agitational programme,'' but he did not not specify the plan.The MPCC chief said a whole lot of incidents during the past two and half years had been cited in the party's memorandum to the Centre to highlight the deteriorating law and order situation in the State and not just the two incidents - the desecration of the statue of B R Ambedkar at Ramabai Nagar in Mumbai and the subsequent firing on Dalits killing 10 people.

When asked to comment on Union Home Minister Indrajit Gupta's statement that the law and order situation in Maharashtra was not good, but had not collapsed either, Deshmukh said that Gupta should look into all the incidents of the past and not just a recent incident. Citing the attack on the residence of leader of opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Council, Chhagan Bhujbal, which is right opposite the Council Hall, Deshmukh asked ``what else proof does the Centre want.''

When asked why the previous Congress government did not resign when over 100 Gowaris were killed during the winter session of the State Legislature in Nagpur, Deshmukh said the two incidents were different. The High Court finding had showed that there was no firing on the Gowaris, who died in large numbers in a stampede. But in Mumbai, the police resorted to firing, killing ten people.

Deshmukh said that Thackeray's inflammatory and provoking statements had created unrest in Maharashtra and demanded that he be arrested. On another question on the emergence of Akhil Bharatiya Sena (ABS) floated by gangster Arun Gawli, the PCC chief said its (ABS) rise would be as harmful to the state as that of the Shiv Sena.

Deshmukh, who has been recently been elected the president of the Maharashtra Congress, said that he was making sincere efforts to wipe out groupism within the party. However, he claimed that the party could win if elections were held.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.