Italian hostage crisis: BJD, BJP join hands to slam Centre

BJD and BJP on Thursday joined hands in attacking the Centre on the abduction of two Italian nationals in Odisha and demanded a statement from the government in the Lok Sabha.

When B Mahtab (BJD) raised the issue during Zero Hour, he was supported by BJP and Shiv Sena.

BJP leader LK Advani termed it as a serious issue and lamented a lack of communication between the Centre and the state government.

He demanded that either the Home Minister or the External Affairs Minister make a statement in Lok Sabha on Monday when the House meets after a weekend break and explain the details of the incident involving Bosusco Paolo and Claudio Colangelo and also what could be done to secure their release.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Bansal said he would convey the feelings of the BJP leader to the minister.

Mahtab alleged that the response of Home Minister P Chidambaram was "casual" when he was informed about the abductions by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

He claimed that it took the Chief Minister's office several hours to establish contact with Chidambaram and External Affairs Minister S M Krishna.

He said since foreigners were involved in the case, the responsibility lied with the central government.

Nishikant Dubey (BJP) alleged that Chidambaram and Krishna were not giving due attention to the issue even as he questioned the visa policy saying a foreigner frequenting India and travelling across the country should have raised their eyebrows.