BJP blames Centre for terror strikes

Hyderabad, Jul 29 (UNI) Blaming the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance Government at the Centre for the terror strikes in different parts of the country, the latest being in BJP-ruled Karnataka and Gujarat, BJP National Secretary Vijay Goel today said that the Centre should come out with a white paper on the terror strikes.

''President Pratibha Patil is sitting on the pieces of legislation passed by the Gujarat and Rajasthan Assemblies on the lines of the law in Maharashtra to tackle terrorism'', he alleged at a press conference here.

Mr Goel maintained that ''terrorism and naxalism are not merely problems concerning individual states. It is the responsibility of the Centre to coordinate with the states to resolve the problems. At last, the Centre has realised the need for setting up a federal intelligence network as proposed by Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha L K Advani.'' The UPA Government had failed to ensure that the culprits responsible for the series bomb blasts in the country were booked and stringent punishment awarded to them, only ''to appease the minorities'', he contended, adding that it was not acting on the petition of Afsal Guru, convicted in Parliament attack case, due to 'vote bank politics'.

On the other hand, the previous NDA Government had ensured that stringent punishment was awarded to those involved in Parliament attack case, he claimed.

The UPA Government had lost ''moral responsibility to rule the country after the serial bomb blasts, Mr Goel claimed, adding that the ''so called secular parties, including the Left, were not coming forward even to condemn the terror strikes not to ''antagonise the minorities,'' he alleged.

Referring to the handling of the attack on noted Bangladesh writer Taslima Nasreen in Hyderabad, he said it was unfortunate that the Congress Government in the state had not acted sternly against Legislators of the All India Majlis-E-Itihadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) because of ''vote bank politics''.

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