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Shivraj Patil must be held accountable, says BJP

NEW DELHI: Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil must be held accountable and responsible for the recent terror blasts in Delhi, the Bharatiya Janata Party has said here.

Party spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy asked whether loyalty to Congress President Sonia Gandhi was enough of a qualification for the Home Minister. “Was loyalty to Ms. Gandhi more important or the country’s security,” he wondered.

Mr. Rudy also referred to reports suggesting that the country’s National Security Adviser has been favouring a tougher law to deal with terrorism and terrorists. The government must make it clear whether this was a fact, and if this was true why the NSA’s suggestion has not been implemented.

Ever since the United Progressive Alliance came to office and repealed the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) enacted by the National Democratic Alliance government, the BJP has been pushing for its re-enactment and presenting this as the answer to tackling terrorism.

On Tuesday, Mr. Rudy said: “If the government has run out of recipes to fight terror why should it not admit and pursue the strong formulations introduced and implemented by the NDA government, which included POTA …?”

The BJP spokesperson also referred to reports of the recent Cabinet meeting where leaders of the coalition parties blamed the Home Minister for intelligence failure that led to the Delhi blasts.

He added that besides the fact that Gujarat Chief Minister had given some inputs to the Prime Minister on the possibility of Delhi being targeted by terrorists, the Centre had claimed that it was aware of the threat to the capital. Why was the government unable to act on the intelligence and prevent the terrorist act, the BJP wanted to know.

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