Haryana Home Secretary Krishna Mohan has been removed from his post, officials said Thursday, two days after he and two others were booked by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in a graft case.

Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary Samir Mathur will be the new home secretary of the state, a state government spokesperson said here Thursday. He was earlier heading the transport department.

Krishna Mohan was Wednesday night shifted to the forests department. Keshni Anand Arora will be the new transport secretary.

Prominent representatives of the Shia sect of Muslims here Wednesday rejected Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) chief Ashok Singhal’s offer to hold talks on the Ayodhya issue.

In a statement issued earlier during the day in Mumbai, Singhal had said that since the high court had dismissed the Sunni Waqf Board’s suit staking a claim to the disputed Ramjanmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land in Ayodhya, the VHP would now hold talks with Shia organizations.

The VHP supremo said: “Mughal emperor Babar’s army commander Mir Baqi, who built the Babri Masjid was a Shia, therefore we have decided to hold talks with representatives of the community.”

Reacting sharply to Singhal’s statement, widely acclaimed Shia scholar and cleric Maulana Kalbe Sadiq, who was also senior vice president of All India Muslim Personal Law Board, said: “We are not interested in any move initiated by Singhal, who only believed in playing the politics of hatred.”

He said: “It is quite apparent that after failing to forge a divide between Hindus and Muslims, the VHP was now trying to incite a confrontation between Shias and Sunnis; but we will not play into their hands.”

Expressing similar views, another well-known Shia cleric Maulana Kalbe Jawad said: “There was absolutely no logic in Singhal’s explanations, which were clearly aimed at bringing Shias at loggerheads with Sunnis.”

“A mosque is a place of worship which cannot be restricted to a particular sect of Muslims,” he said.

Maulana Mohammad Athar, who heads the All India Shia Muslim Personal Law Board, also flayed Singhal for his remarks.

30 सितम्बर को इलाहाबाद उच्च न्यायालय की लखनऊ विशेष बैंच के निर्णय के बाद कांग्रेस की स्थिति में कुछ ऊहापोह जैसी स्थिति है।

न्यायालय के निर्णय के बाद पार्टी के मीडिया प्रभारी जनार्दन द्विवेदी ने न्यायालय के निर्णय को तहेदिल स्वीकारने की अपील करते हुए कहा था अदालत पक्षपात रहित संस्था है। चार दिन बाद पार्टी, पार्टी प्रवक्ता जयंती नटराजन ने न्यायालय के फैसले को न्यायिक प्रक्रिया का अंग बताते हुए सर्वोच्च न्यायालय में ही अंतिम समाधान की बात कही।

इस फैसले से बाबरी ढांचा ध्वस्त करने पर न्यायालय का निर्णय रद्द हो जाता है। इस सवाल के जवाब में जनार्दन द्विवेदी ने एक फैसले द्वारा दूसरे फैसले के खंडन से इनकार किया। सोमवार को फिर जयंती नटराजन ने कहा कि अयोध्या फैसले से बाबरी मस्जिद विध्वंस का आरोप समाप्त नहीं होता।

पार्टी सूत्रों के अनुसार कांग्रेस में असमंजस का मुख्य कारण यह है कि फैसले में तीन भागों में विवादित स्थल विभक्त करने के फैसले पर मुसलमान समुदाय में अनुकूल प्रतिक्रिया न होने पर कांग्रेस ने फैसले का पक्ष लेना छोड़कर सर्वोच्च न्यायालय में अंतिम निर्णय की बात कहना शुरू कर दिया गया है ताकि मुस्लिम मतदाता असंतुष्ट न हों।