Muzaffarnagar Sep 23 (IANS): Uttar Pradesh Public Works Department (PWD) Minister Shivpal Singh Yadav faced a hostile crowd of riot victims in Muzaffarnagar when he visited relief camps Monday.

Yadav, uncle of Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, barely managed to request people to maintain communal harmony.

Soon after landing at the makeshift helipad in Chandan Lal National Inter College in Kandhla, Yadav left for Eidgah where he met the riot victims.

There was no public address system in place for the minister to address the crowd. The restless crowd raised slogans, accusing the minister of arriving to merely pay "lip-service".

The minister made a quick retreat, leaving for Jogiya Kheda after talking to reporters and ulemas (Muslim clerics). He assured them that the guilty would be brought to book.

The minister told the clerics that the state government stood with them and was deeply saddened by the riots. Asked to comment on the alleged role of his ministerial colleague Mohammad Azam Khan in the riots, Yadav only said: "Khan is a pious and clean man."

He also alleged that there was a political conspiracy behind the "sting operation" conducted by a television channel which showed Azam Khan, the state's minorities welfare minister, allegedly giving instructions to police officials at the time of the riots.

The PWD minister assured riot victims that arrangements would be made for their rehabilitation.

Forty eight people were killed in communal clashes and riots in Muzaffarnagar Sep 7 and more than 43,000 displaced.