Centre gears for Ayodhya dispute ruling next month

Concerned at the possibility of a law and order situation once the Allahabad High Court delivers its verdict in the Ayodhya title dispute next month, the Centre is drawing a contingency plan to deal with any situation that might arise.

Concerned at the possibility of a law and order situation once the Allahabad High Court delivers its verdict in the Ayodhya title dispute next month, the Centre is drawing a contingency plan to deal with any situation that might arise.

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The Home Ministry’s plan to begin the process of consultation for the contingency plan comes a day after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh conferred with cabinet colleagues including Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Home Minister P. Chidambaram.

Incidentally, Chidambaram emphasised the golden rule of handling communal violence at the conference of police chiefs when he told them to depute a senior officer “to deal with the situation firmly and without fear or favour” at the first sign of violence.

The Uttar Pradesh government has already sought nearly 485 companies of para-military personnel from the Centre to tackle a possible disruption. This is more than the central paramilitary personnel deployed to fight Maoists across all states.

Government sources said it appeared to be an exaggerated demand but the final contour of the central plan would be finalised in a few weeks.

Describing September as a challenging month for the security establishment, a government source a significant

number of central police personnel would be tied up with the commonwealth games in Delhi and the Bihar assembly elections through October and November.