NEW DELHI, March 6: Leaders of rightwing Hindu and Muslim fundamentalist groups who gained most from the recent carnage in Gujarat were regarding their political dividends with anticipation on Wednesday, their job made easier with the murder of a newly elected deputy in Uttar Pradesh that could be the next target of lurking fanaticism, reports and analysts said.

As Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s beleaguered government formally urged the courts to speed up hearing of a string of lawsuits that could decide the fate of the country’s notorious temple-mosque row, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) said there was no guarantee that it would abide by the verdict if it went against the campaign by Hindu revivalists to build a temple in Ayodhya.

A fresh dimension was added to the tense standoff when Manzoor Ahmed, a Samajwadi Party MLA from Baheri constituency, was shot dead outside Raj Bhawan, Uttar Pradesh governor’s official residence, where he was taking part in a party-sponsored protest. He succumbed to injuries on way to hospital.

One of the two suspected assailants was also apprehended by party activists and handed over to the police. He has been identified as Abhishek Bharadwaj and is being interrogated. The police have not ruled out the possibility of personal enmity behind the killing. But Samajwadi leader Mulayam Singh said there was a conspiracy against his party but stopped short of blaming the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the incident.

Vajpayee’s government filed an application in the Allahabad High Court on Wednesday requesting day-to-day hearings on the Ayodhya land dispute case. The Court has granted time till March 18 to the parties for filing replies to the application while posting a further hearing on March 19. Hindu groups say the courts are taking far too long to decide the case.

The application filed before the full bench through Additional Solicitor General R N Trivedi comes in the midst of fresh initiatives taken by New Delhi to resolve the Ram Janambhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute, especially a day after the Kanchi Shankaracharya, a revered Hindu priest, reportedly floated a formula to break the deadlock.

The VHP however asserted that the Ram Janambhoomi Trust had given no commitment to abide by the court verdict in the Ayodhya dispute but had only given an undertaking to maintain status quo.

“We have not given any undertaking that we will abide by any verdict given by the court. We have said that the status quo will be maintained,” said VHP Senior Vice-President Acharya Giriraj Kishore.

Asked what would be the VHP’s response if the court ruled in favour of Muslims, he said: “The court verdict cannot be against history. It was on the court’s orders that the temple’s locks were opened and there are court orders that uninterrupted puja (prayers) be allowed at the disputed site.”

Asked whether the Centre’s application before the Allahabad High Court seeking day-to-day hearing in the case relating to the Ayodhya dispute was part of an understanding between the VHP and the government, he said: “We have been demanding this for the past three years.”

The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) said that it will participate in the resolution of the Ayodhya dispute brokered by the Kanchi seer Jayendra Saraswati as Vajpayee was directly involved in the matter.

Kamal Farooqui, a prominent member of the AIMPLB, said the Board informed the Shankaracharya that it would discuss his proposal with Muslim leaders across the country.

However, the All India Babri Masjid Action Committee has said that it would consider the VHP’s latest compromise proposal to end the impasse only when it gives in writing to the court its demand for transfer of the acquired land.