Intervening in a discussion on the Suratkal issue initiated by leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge, Patel agreed with the former that acts committed during that period were ``condemnable''.

He appealed to both H K Patil and senior Congress member Veerappa Moily not to imply political involvement, reminding them that a judicial inquiry was on. ``Why go into the matter now and create excitement? Having seen it -- it was so disgusting and inhuman, there is no point in discussing it now.''Earlier when Kharge mentioned the names of the Bajrang Dal, the Hindu Jagran Sena and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad among organisations suspected to be behind the incidents,BJP members led by floor leader K S Eswarappa and senior member B S Yediyurappa protested: ``Our party is not involved''.

Yediyurappa went a step further and raised a point of order on whether members could name names in view of the ongoing judicial probe. Kharge replied by saying that he had only said that these organisations had openly indulged in communal propaganda during that period and not that they were responsible. ``I have not said that the BJP has done it'' he added.

Party colleague U R Sabhapathy intervened to say that the denial suggested the ``BJP's conspiracy'' with these organisations since ``we have not mentioned the BJP'' in our statements.

At this point Kannada Chaluvali member Vatal Nagaraj, CPM member V Srirama Reddy and Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha member K S Puttannaiah defended the Opposition's right to ``raise any issue''.

When senior BJP member Pramila Nesargi sought to argue that the matter was subjudice in view of the judicial probe, senior Congress member Kagodu Thimmappareminded her that the judicial committee probing the incident was ``a fact-finding body, not a court''. The point was also repeated by Kharge who said there was therefore no point of order in that.

Kharge then went on to say that he was not blaming any local MLA or political party. But when these organisations target select and identified houses and shops for attack, there is need to wonder why they had not been identified and arrested earlier as a pre-emptive move, he wanted to know.``Unless you identify the root, you will not be able to uproot these elements'' he added.

He told the treasury benches that if they were sure that no identifiable organisations were involved in the incidents, he would sit down and be quiet. But even though the BJP national executive had a meeting in Bangalore at that time, none of their national leaders even visited Suratkal to inquire after the victims, he said.