NEW DELHI: On a day Amit Shah came under fire from Congress for the communal riots in the capital, MHA sources trashed the criticism as ill-informed and politically biased, saying it was the home minister who oversaw the fire-fighting in the violence-hit pockets.Sources said Shah monitored the situation minute-by-minute in order to stem violence, adding that it was the home minister’s idea to depute national security advisor Ajit Doval , a former IPS officer with decades of experience in managing law and order, to personally oversee the law-enforcement measures on the ground. Shah felt that Doval could provide guidance to the cops, while helping reassure the local residents. Prime Minister Narendra Modi immediately endorsed the suggestion to draft in the NSA.Congress chief Sonia Gandhi has alleged that Shah did not work to help restore normalcy. Rebutting the charge, government sources said Shah monitored the situation through the night of February 24 and 25, monitoring the situation minute-by-minute and excused himself from visiting US president Donald Trump ’s programmes including the banquet at Rashtrapati Bhavan on the evening of February 25.The PM himself took a review of the situation immediately after US president’s departure and Shah again worked through the night of Tuesday-Wednesday to ensure that the roads in the violence-hit pockets of North-East Delhi were cleared for the movement of public.On Wednesday, Doval, who visited DCP (North-East)’s office in Seelampur on Tuesday night and also visited violence-affected areas on Wednesday afternoon — shared the situation update with Shah at a review meeting chaired by the latter in North Block. The home secretary, IB director and Delhi Police commissioner too attended the review meeting.Shah had got busy with managing the fire-fighting soon after violence erupted in parts of North-East Delhi on Monday soon after his return from Ahmedabad where he had gone for the visit of the US president. At a 3-hour meeting he held with the home secretary, IB director and Delhi police commissioner, Shah directed that police should enhance the number of boots on the ground and try to establish domination over areas where rioters were running rampage. As reports of some late-night disturbances came in, he reviewed the situation again till 1am.On February 25, Shah’s day started with another review meeting at 9 am with the home ministry officials. At noon, another meeting on Delhi situation followed, this time with Delhi LG Anil Baijal, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and leaders of political parties where he asked for their cooperation, emphasised the need to rise above partisan considerations as well as the need to involve elected representatives of all parties in a public outreach which will help restore confidence and quell rumours.He also instructed Delhi Police to start a dialogue process with the public in collaboration with local peace committees and create an atmosphere of trust.At 1.30 pm, Shah was again closeted with the home secretary and IB director at North Block to evaluate the situation. As part of extraordinary steps to restore law and order, Shah appointed senior IPS officer S N Srivastava as special commissioner (law & order) of Delhi Police at around 6 pm. With reports of alleged rioters from other states having entered Delhi in trucks, checks on inter-state borders were intensified.At 6.30 pm, Shah held the third meeting of the day on Delhi violence with the home secretary, IB chief, Delhi Police commissioner, Srivastava and other officials, which lasted three hours. Drastic decisions were taken to ensure peace and restore law and order. This included clearing the blocked roads and deputing NSA Doval to make ground visits and interact with police and public to restore law and order. Shah, said sources, kept getting updates on the situation till as late as 2am.