Faizabad violence: Centre offers additional forces to UP

The Centre today offered to provide additional security forces to Uttar Pradesh to help the state government in maintaining peace in violence-affected Faizabad.

Minister of State for Home RPN Singh, who belongs to UP, described the violence in the twin towns of Faizabad and Ayodhya as "unfortunate and disturbing".

"I think it is very unfortunate and disturbing that riot has taken place in UP. We will have to ask the state government whether they need more central forces," he told reporters when asked about the situation there.

Singh, who was moved from Petroleum Ministry to Home Ministry in Sunday's reshuffle, said he may talk to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav to discuss how to bring back normalcy in the violence-hit areas.

"If necessary I will speak to the Chief Minister. Law and order is a state subject but we will see what can be done to help the state government," he said after assuming charges of his office here.

Asked about the reported comments of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Union Minister Shashi Tharoor's wife, Singh said the comments "reflected the mindset" of the person concerned.

"It is very derogatory and outrageous. This is against Indian ethos and culture," he said.

Speaking in Shimla yesterday, Modi had taken potshots at Tharoor's personal life, saying his wife was once his "50-crore-rupee girlfriend", a day after the Congress leader made a comeback in the Union government reshuffle as Minister of State for Human Resources Development.

The comment was an apparent reference to Tharoor in the context of the IPL cricket controversy involving his wife Sunanda Pushkar in 2010 which led to his resignation as Minister of State for External Affairs. Modi, however, did not take any names.