Yeddyurappa alleges Centre of soft-peddling terrorism at NIC meet

New Delhi, Oct 13 (UNI) Facing flak over the vandalism of churches, Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa today launched an offensive against the UPA Government, saying that the Centre was not doing enough to tackle terrorism.

Talking to newspersons on the sidelines of the National Integration Council (NIC) meeting, Mr Yeddyurappa said the situation in Karnataka was normal and some vested interests and selfish politicians were trying to take advantage by spreading rumours.

He said some anti-social elements tried to foment violence, but it was put down by the state police.

Referring to an incident of fire in a church today, the Chief Minister said that the incident was caused due to an electrical short circuit, which has even been confirmed by the priest. However, a minority leader John Dayal has misinformed the NIC that the church was attacked. He said that it is really unfortunate that incidents of short circuit were termed as attacks on churches.

Charging the Centre with soft-peddling terrorism, which is spreading even in Southern India, he said Karnataka is also a victim of militancy, affecting national security. Mr Yeddyurappa said that the Centre should hold the meeting of the NIC more often to strengthen national integration.

He demanded effective steps from the Home Ministry to stop infiltration from both the western and eastern borders. Moreover, steps to check foreign fundings of terrorists should be taken. He also demanded a separate POTA-like law to be enacted to curb terrorism and more effective coordinaton between the Central and State agencies to check the menace.

The Chief Minister also demended capacity-building by the Central Government to effectively deal with terrorism.

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