LUCKNOW: The fire in Mau town in Uttar Pradesh has died down but the embers continue to burn brightly in Lucknow now.

Director General of Police Yashpal Singh said yesterday that the police were working towards restoring peace in the riot-hit town but arresting Mukhtar Ansari, independent member of legislative assembly (MLA), was not an easy task.

"We have carried out raids this morning to nab the MLA but you know it is not an easy task," he said.

Mukhtar Ansari’s brother Afzal Ansari, who is also a Samajwadi Party (ruling party in the state) member of parliament, on the other hand, mounted a blistering attack on Governor T.V. Rajeswar who visited Mau on Saturday and later told Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav that a judicial inquiry should be ordered into the riots.

"The Governor is trying to defame the Mulayam Singh government and is interfering in administrative matters under pressure from the Congress. If he wants he can recommend dismissal of the Mulayam Singh government and the Congress will see the results in Lok Sabha.

"The raids yesterday at my residence and at the residence of Mukhtar were carried out under pressure from Raj Bhawan," he alleged.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Gorakhpur, Mahant Adityanath, meanwhile, declared at a press conference that he would soon file public interest litigation in the Supreme Court demanding an inquiry into the role of the Mulayam Singh government in Mau riots and also the role of Mukhtar Ansari and other Samajwadi leaders.

"We will also be meeting the Governor along with Hindu religious leaders and the Hindu victims of Mau riots later this week."According to our information, more than 200 Hindus have been killed in Mau riots and over 50 Hindu women have been molested.

"We are preparing a list of their names and addresses and will soon launch a movement to protest against this kind of violence," he said.

Adityanath said the Mau violence was a fallout of the enmity between Mukhtar Ansari and the town area chairman Ashraf Jamal and the local administration deliberately ignored the simmering tension in the town.

"Even now, the police patrolling is limited to the main roads whereas sporadic incidents of violence continue in those bylanes of Mau where the population is Hindu," he said.