BJP lashes out at Singh, Chidu for ambivalence

Alleges misuse of intelligence agencies has led to the government's failure in thwarting terror attacks

BJP lashes out at Singh, Chidu for ambivalence

Alleges misuse of intelligence agencies has led to the government's failure in thwarting terror attacks

"Manmohan Singh said on Thursday that the government will do everything in its power to prevent such attacks in future. On what basis is the Prime Minister making such claims when his Home Minister frankly conceded that all cities in India are vulnerable to attack. Are they on the same page?" wondered BJP chief spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad.

He added that it was unfair on the part of the Prime Minister and Home Minister to say that there was no intelligence input. "As they both have said on record that there was no prior intelligence alerts, the country now wants to know why there was no intelligence alert?" asked Prasad.

"There is no intelligence alert as IB and other agencies of late are being used in non-security related political objectives such as targeting non-UPA state governments and surveillance of even senior ministers," Prasad said, referring to the controversy in which the Home Minister was accused of spying on Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee by bugging his office.

The BJP accused the Centre was trying to save the Congress-led government in Maharashtra by terming there was intelligence input about the attacks. The opposition further accused the government of failing to keep most of its promises, including upgradation of the anti-terror infrastructure, made after 26/11 .

"What happened to the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC). Is the idea as good as abandoned? What happened to the proposal of National Intelligence Grid to collect and co-relate intelligence from diverse agencies? All available indications suggest that they are just limping and there are a lot of turf wars," Prasad said.

The BJP wondered why Chidambaram was still not being sacked. It insisted that the government had failed to solve any of the recent terrorist attack casesu00a0-- from German Bakery Blast in Pune, twin blasts near Bangalore Cricket Stadium, shootout near Jama Masjid, Delhi to Varanasi blast. The party also demanded that a POTA-like law be passed to fight terror.

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