Mumbai, July 29: Maharashtra Chief Minister Sushilkumar Shinde today asked the opposition Shiv Sena-BJP combine to withdraw its ''Mumbai bandh'' call for tomorrow and appealed to all political parties to unitedly stand by the people in this time of crisis. Talking to reporters at his official residence ''Varsha'' here, Shinde said security-related issues could not be resolved by calling a bandh.

''There are several occasions to play politics, but not on such issues,'' he added.

Asserting that there would be adequate police bandobast tomorrow, Shinde warned that those taking the law in their hands would be dealt with sternly. The chief minister said the police is already on the job of bringing the culprits in last night's bomb blast to book. Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal rejected the opposition's demand for his resignation and said he was willing to step down if the bomb blasts were happening because he was the Home Minister.
''Ministers in Delhi should also own responsibility of terrorist strikes in Jammu and Kashmir and other parts of the state,'' he said.

Bhujbal lashed out at the opposition parties for trying to divert the attention of the city police from investigations into the case to maintaining bandobast for the bandh.

Bureau Report