The people of Gujarat may have observed great restraint in the wake of Saturday’s serial blasts, but politicians are finding it difficult to control themselves.
NEW DELHI: The people of Gujarat may have observed great restraint in the wake of Saturday’s serial blasts, but politicians are finding it difficult to control themselves.
Barely two days after the strikes, a slanging match has begun between the Congress and the BJP in a bid to score crucial brownie points.
BJP’s Sushma Swaraj said the blasts were aimed at diverting attention from the cash-for-vote scandal and wining over Muslims.
Minutes later, the Congress hit back. “The timing is uncanny. Every time the BJP is in a bind, such incidents take place. The investigative agencies should look into that,” party general secretary Digvijay Singh said.
To buttress his point, he pointed to the Hubli blast that took place “just before the first phase of polling in the Karnataka elections and then the blasts in Jaipur, which took place on the eve of the second phase of polling”.
Countering the BJP charge of going soft on terror, Digvijay said till the 90s, barring the incidents in J&K, North East and Punjab, there were very few terror strikes in the country. “If there is anybody to blame it’s the BJP. Its communal agenda and LK
Advani’s rath yatra. Its only after Advani’s rath yatra and the communal carnage that followed that such incidents have started taking place.”
Digvijay was responding to the charges made earlier in the day by Sushma. “The blasts were meant to divert attention from the cash-for-vote scandal and to win back Muslim votes, which had slipped away because of the UPA government’s pro-US tilt, by creating a fear of the BJP among them,” she said.
Sushma said her party smelt a conspiracy behind the bomb attacks in Bangalore and Ahmedabad, capitals of two BJP-ruled states. Asked if she was blaming the UPA government at the Centre for the attacks, she said, “I have said what I had to. Let the Centre interpret it.”
She said the blasts took place within 24 hours of each other in BJP-ruled states four days after the trust vote. This was circumstantial evidence of her charge.
The Congress, meanwhile, reiterated the need for a federal agency to combat terrorism. Party spokesperson Manish Tewari said, “We once again appeal to all political parties to reach an agreement on this at the earliest.”
j_ansari@dnaindia.net
s_rajesh@dnaindia.net
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