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Tuesday, Sep 16, 2008
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Intelligence failure to blame: Lalu

Special Correspondent

He wants Cabinet to discuss internal security issues

NEW DELHI: Two days after serial blasts rocked the Capital, the Congress tried to put a brave face on the incident even as uneasy swipes were made at the functioning of the Home Ministry under Shivraj Patil.

Several leaders held discussions with Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday.

While Congress leaders Veerappa Moily and Margaret Alva met Ms. Gandhi and discussed the spate of attacks on churches and prayer halls in some districts of Karnataka, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Defence Minister A.K. Antony, party general secretary Digvijay Singh and political secretary to the Congress president Ahmed Patel met Ms. Gandhi separately.

Party sources said the issue of internal security figured prominently. Mr. Patil was not present.

Lalu Prasad, Railway Minister and leader of the Rashtriya Janata Dal, a key ally of the Congress in the UPA coalition, criticised the government’s handling of terrorism and demanded an urgent meeting of the Cabinet. He wanted all political parties to discuss the issue.

Mr. Prasad met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Ms. Gandhi earlier in the day and discussed the situation in the wake of the serial blasts. Sources said he did not name Mr. Patil directly.

Addressing journalists, Mr. Prasad said, “A special Cabinet meeting should be called to discuss threadbare issues arising out of the blasts in Delhi.” He blamed intelligence failure for the blasts, saying inputs from the IB were always “vague.” “A mechanism should be evolved to tackle such situation,” he said and demanded constitution of a special task force to deal with terrorism-related cases.

“After bomb blasts we remain alert for a day or two, whereas the alertness should be a continuous process.”

Responding to questions at a regular briefing, whether Mr. Patil should step down, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said such a suggestion from any quarter was an attempt to create instability in the country.

Mr. Singhvi said the Opposition was in the habit of seeking resignations and sought to know how many times BJP leader L.K. Advani either resigned or even offered to do so after a spate of terror attacks during his tenure as Home Minister.

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