December 9: The Shiv Sena and Congress parties today took their political rivalry into the chambers of the Justice S D Gundewar commission. The hearing turned out to be a personal war between leader of the opposition Chhagan Bhujbal, advocate for Congress B A Desai and Shiv Sena MP Adhik Shirodkar.

Despite Justice Gundewar's frequent reminders to the three and strong objection taken to the question-answer series by other advocates, Bhujbal, Desai and Shirodkar continued to attack each other on personal grounds. Justice Gundewar had allowed the Sena to argue on the basis of its statement of case on the condition that it would stick to the terms of reference of the commission and not bring any politics into the arguments.

The battle actually began yesterday itself, with the statement of case filed by the Sena turning out to be a virtual document of accusation against the Congress. Desai today retaliated and requested the commission to delete all those parts from the Sena's statement which were defamatory to Bhujbal and the Congress. He argued, ``I request the commission to take suo moto action and delete all such parts from the statement. My client is leader of opposition and must be protected from the Sena's attempts of maligning his image.''

A visibly agitated advocate Prabhakar Hegde asked the commission to intervene. ``This is turning out to be a fight between the two parties. If this continues, the motive of the commission will be side-tracked. It is surprising that the Sena woke up only after Bhujbal appeared before the commission.''

It was then Bhujbal's turn. When asked if he had called either Manohar Joshi or Gopinath Munde to cross-check the desecration incident at Ramabai Nagar on July 11, 1997, he replied, ``I do not share a good relationship with either the Chief Minister or Deputy Chief Minister. I do not speak to them even on the telephone.'' To another question, he said on the morning of July 11, he was spared public wrath only after the violent mob came to know that he was not a ``Shiv Sena-BJP minister.'' He claimed: ``Had it been any minister, he would have been badly beaten up.''

Shirodkar provoked Bhujbal even more furiously. During one of his answers, Bhujbal had said it was his duty to ask questions and take up important issues. Shirodkar immediately launched a broadside: ``And you always fail in it.'' Bhujbal got visibly upset and said, ``I will succeed in the future. You do not worry about it.'' Shirodkar also passed comments about Bhujbal's defeat in the assembly elections and his appointment to the legislative council. Bhujbal in turn questioned Shirodkar's knowledge of Rajya Sabha proceedings and Shirodkar argued back on Bhujbal's command over events in the State Council.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.