UPA cannot be expected to fight terror: Joshi

Gwalior, Nov 10 (UNI) Bharatiya Janata Party leader and former Union minister Murli Manohar Joshi today alleged that the Centre's United Progressive Alliance regime was running with support from political parties that sided with terrorist organisations and therefore could not be expected to combat militancy with an iron hand.

''A neighbouring country and a minority community's organisations were named in recent terrorist incidents in India. One Union Minister spoke of granting citizenship to suspicion-arousing Bangladeshis when their ouster from our country was spoken about. A party spoke of lifting the ban on the Students' Islamic Movement of India,'' he told mediapersons while on the campaign trail in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh.

The India-Pakistan issues could be solved sans third-party intervention, Dr Joshi felt while adding that the negative consequences of anti-people policies over the past four-and-a-half years were now coming to the fore.

''The globalisation of the United States is failing just like Communism. An economic model based on the Indian viewpoint is imperative and the BJP is mulling it,'' he said.

On being asked about the arrest of former Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad activist Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur in connection with the Malegaon serial blasts, Dr Joshi said that the BJP was sticking to its statement that there was no such person as a Hindu terrorist.

''I am only an ordinary worker. The decision to make Mr L K Advani the prime ministerial nominee was taken by the National Democratic Alliance,'' he said.

Regarding discontent over assembly poll tickets in this state, Dr Joshi admitted that the BJP could not remain untouched by it on account of being a large party but everything would become alright.

UNI XC-AC 1935