New Delhi, July 19: Congress President Sonia Gandhi today asked Maharashtra Chief Minister Sushilkumar Shinde to be extra vigilant to ensure that there was no recurrence of attacks on Dalits. Gandhi gave the advice to Shinde, the first Dalit Chief Minister of the state, when he had a meeting with her to brief about the situation in the state including the recent atrocities on Dalits. Talking to reporters later, Shinde denied reports that he was summoned by the high command in the wake of the spate of atrocities on Dalits and his offer to step down from the chief ministership if it could help stop the attacks. Shinde said, "I am ruthless and I will be ruthless" in dealing with such incidents but dismissed reports that his predecessor Vilasrao Deshmukh was behind the attempts to malign him.

The Chief Minister also brushed aside reports that dissidence was growing against him in the party and maintained that there was no threat to his position.


"If someone wants to make a political capital out of killing of the poor, may god bless them", he said sarcastically.
Bureau Report