Ever since the TADA court gave its verdict on the 1992 Mumbai bomb blasts cases, pressure has been mounting on the Maharashtra government to implement the Srikrishna Commission’s recommendations. The Commission had probed the 1992-93 communal riots in Mumbai and had indicted 31 police officials as well as Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray and some of his lieutenants, for fanning communal passions during those riots.

The Vilasrao Deshmukh government’s first instinct is to buy time. And it has several vital reasons to do so. The government has been continuing in office since 2004 on only one compulsion — to stay in power. The two major partners in this government, the Congress and the NCP, function more like rivals than allies. The Congress is, as always, divided into warring groups: Deshmukh versus Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee chief, Prabha Rau; Deshmukh versus Narayan Rane; and so on. Many in this government are mired in serious charges of irregularities. These include the distribution of election tickets during the recent local body polls to more than one person in places like Nagpur; and unchecked freedom to leaders like Suresh Kalmadi in Pune, where the municipal corporation was lost to the NCP. The Congress-NCP combine has not even been able to clear appointments, like executive officers in state-run corporations — the baseline post on the political ladder. The Congress is facing flak over large-scale irregularities in land transactions involving Wakf properties, with Deshmukh’s brother, Dilip, himself being accused of being involved in a questionable deal.

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