Shivraj Patil lone bigwig yet to be re-instated post 26/11

MUMBAI: Senior Congress leader Shivraj Patil, one of the top leaders who were made to quit as Union Home Minister after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, is the only one yet to be reinstated after the Congress-NCP government took charge in the state.

Vilasrao Deshmukh, who had to resign as Chief Minister post-26/11, was made Union Heavy Industries Minister and R R Patil, who quit as state Home Minister, is back in the job.

"Everyone, except Shivraj Patil, who quit as Union Home Minister in the aftermath of the terror attacks, is back in government. We supporters feel injustice has been done to him as there was no lapse on his part," Pradeep Rathi, an aide of the former Lok Sabha Speaker, told news agency.

"It is on record that there was no lapse on his part as IB had passed on specific information about terror attacks to Maharashtra Government," Rathi, General Secretary of Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee, said.

Congress spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi has already stated that R R Patil was not "personally responsible" for 26/11 and had tendered his resignation "on moral grounds."

However, when asked if by the same token 74-year-old Shivraj Patil too could be brought back as Union Home Minister, he remarked, "Don't connect the unconnectable."

Widely criticised following a series of earlier bombings in different cities, Shivraj Patil resigned four days after the 26/11 attacks in which 183 people were killed.