New Delhi, Oct. 6: Sonia Gandhi has nudged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to find answers to questions and doubts arising from the Jamianagar “encounter” that followed the Delhi blasts.

The Congress president conveyed her concerns to Singh through Union minister Kapil Sibal, party general secretary Digvijay Singh and former Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Salman Khurshid, who is a resident of Jamianagar.

Khurshid said when they called on Singh on October 3, he was told that a “lot of questions” needed to be answered. “He said he will reflect on them and consult those that need to be. The number of persons who were since asked to respond (to the queries) is the result of the PM and Sonia being sympathetic,” he told The Telegraph.

Singh told the Congress trio that the party would have to handle the “public” aspects of the issue — that is, the political management — while the government would look into the procedural ones.

However, despite the compulsion of having to signal to Muslims that the Congress had their interests close to its heart, sources said Sonia and Singh feel they “can’t jump to conclusions”.

The sources admitted that the Congress was caught in a Catch-22 situation like in 1989 when the RSS-BJP had fuelled the Ayodhya “agitation” to tap the reservoir of Hindu votes. The Sangh had forced the Congress to take sides but it fumbled and fell between two stools.

If the Congress has to stave off the criticism that it is favouring the “pro-tough state” line to justify actions like encounters, it is in peril of losing Muslim support, not just in Delhi but the country over.

“Our feedback is that everywhere Muslims feel this secular government has given them the raw end of the stick,” a general secretary from a southern state said.

On the other hand, being seen as “soft” on human rig-hts votaries could alienate Hindus.

Given the perception that the Jamianagar “encounter” had polarised the communities, the sources conceded that the government and the party’s options were limited.