Blasts aftermath: BJP slams Prithviraj Chavan over ‘home portfolio’ slur

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday criticised Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan for his controversial statement over the state home portfolio given to the ruling coalition partner Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said Chavan is washing off his hands and not taking responsibility by indirectly blaming compulsions of coalition politics. “If he takes ten years to realise that giving the ministry of home to coalition was wrong, then it is indeed a very sad commentary in the way in which terror issues are being handled by in the Maharashtra,” said Prasad.

Prasad further said: “On the one hand, in Delhi, it is becoming the coalition of the corrupt and in Mumbai the compulsion of coalition is leading to killing of innocent people. This is not the way you tackle terror.”

Chavan earlier told a TV news channel that if the home minister is from the Congress, the response to crisis situations may be quicker and more efficient.

Prasad also criticised Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh for alleging the involvement of radical Hindu outfits in Mumbai triple blasts. Singh earlier in the day said the involvement of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) cannot be ruled out in the serial blasts. Speaking to media persons in New Delhi, Singh said he still adheres to the allegations made by him.