State Govt should resign: Uddhav, Munde

Aurangabad, Maharashtra, July 23 (UNI) Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray and senior BJP leader Gopinath Munde today came down heavily on the Democratic Front (DF) government in the state for its ''failure to combat terrorism'' and said the government should resign.

Addressing a public meeting here late this evening against growing terrorism in the state on the backdrop of the recent serial bomb blasts in Mumbai local trains, Mr Thackeray said policemen, common man and ''even God'' were not safe, being frequently attacked by terrorists. The Government, thus, has no right to rule and should relinquish power.

Both Mr Thackeray and Mr Munde, in their address, claimed that during the Sena-BJP alliance rule in the state, not even a single case of rioting had occurred. There had not been a single bomb blast in the state during the Saffron regime whereas during the Democratic Front Government's reign, the State witnessed about 110 bomb blasts during the last ten years, they said.

While referring to the terrorist module busted by the Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) at Ellora in Aurangabad district and subsequent arrests of suspected terrorists from few places in the Marathwada region, Mr Thackeray expressed concern that Aurangabad was turning into a ''capital'' for the terrorists. He urged the people to be united in fight against terrorism.

Mr Munde, a former Maharashtra deputy chief minister and Home minister, while drawing attention to the Union Home Ministry's statements that it had passed on intelligence information to the state government about possible terrorist attacks, said the state government had failed to act on the Centre's intelligence.

Mr Munde demanded reintroduction of stringent laws like POTA and TADA to control terrorist activities in the state.

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