New Delhi, January 12
At a time when the Congress is using every possible ploy to woo the Muslim vote in the upcoming crucial Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, it was placed in an embarrassing position today with Home Minister P. Chidambaram emphatically denying AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh’s charge that the three-year-old Batla House encounter in Delhi was fake.

“When the matter came to me after I took over as the Home Minister, we came to the conclusion that it was a genuine encounter,” Chidambaram said today.

In a late night report, Digvijay, however, again stuck to his claim that the Batla House encounter here was "fake"

Digvijay Singh had said in Azamgarh yesterday that he had always believed that the encounter was fake. “ I did not press the matter further as the Prime Minister and the Home Minister were of the view that the encounter was genuine,” he had said.

Chidambaram said Digvijay had always held that the encounter was fake but every authority which had looked into the case had found that this was not correct. “While there is a difference of opinion, I think the matter rests where it stands today. I don’t think there is any scope for reopening the matter,” he added.

Digvijay Singh, who has consistently taken a contrary position from that of the government, felt compelled to rake up this issue yesterday where AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi encountered angry protests from young Muslims during an election meeting in Azamgarh, which is still seething as the those who were killed in the encounter and dubbed as Indian Mujahideen terrorists belonged here. The residents of Azamgarh are also upset as a number of youths from here have been arrested in connection with terrorist attacks, including the Delhi blasts cases.

The senior Congress leader’s statement was a damage control measure as the party is locked in a serious battle with the Samajwadi Party (SP) to win UP Muslims who constitute 18 per cent of the population and whose vote is crucial in as many 70 Assembly segments. While the SP is seeking to consolidate its traditional Muslim-Yadav support base, the Congress is also hoping to woo a chunk of minority vote. The UPA government’s decision to carve out a 4.5 per cent sub-quota from the 27 per cent quota for OBCs and the financial package for UP’s weavers is part of the Congress strategy to position itself as a saviour of Muslims.