At a function held at the Press Club here, he also ruled out a fresh probe into the riots and rejected the Opposition demand for his resignation.

"Whatever the apex court directs, I will have to abide by as the Chief Minister. But in such an eventuality, I will prefer to resign and join Thackeray in agitating against the issue", Joshi said when asked what course of action he would take if the Supreme Court while deciding a petititon on the report asks the State Government to arrest Thackeray.

A public interest litigation was filed last week in the Supreme Court seeking its directive for action against those found guilty by the commission whose report has been rejected by the Maharashtra Government.

"I do not think Thackeray has doneanything wrong. There is nothing wrong if someone asks you to defend yourself", Joshi said claiming that the Sena chief as also himself had not been `named' by the commission. The commission has also not recommended arrest of Thackeray or any other leader, he added.

"The matter is over.....I have done the right thing in the interest of the state and the country," he contended.

He disputed suggestions that the Rathyatra of L K Advani in 1989 had led to fear psychosis among the minority community.

The Chief Minister was critical of the commission for overlooking several aspects involving the minorities.

He said that the judicial panel neither criticised incidents of alleged stone-pelting on the army from the mosques nor the reported actions of Central and state ministers from the minority communities in getting released people from their community by visiting police stations.

Meanwhile, reacting to Joshi's statement, the Congress said that it was "highly regrettable" that he would even defy orders ofthe Supreme Court. Party spokesman Ajit Jogi was referring to Joshi's statement that he would not arrest Thackeray even if the apex court ordered him to.

Regarding Joshi's remark that Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and C K Jaffer Sharief were also involved in the Mumbai riots, Jogi said his party would not accept such allegations. There was no mention about them in the Srikrishna Commission report, he added.