Date:16/05/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/05/16/stories/2008051660101200.htm

Karnataka

Convene CMs’ meet on POTA: Venkaiah Naidu

Special Correspondent

BANGALORE: Bharatiya Janata Party MP and national general secretary M. Venkaiah Naidu has urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to convene a meeting of Chief Ministers to discuss the need to revive POTA and evolve a consensus on establishing a federal agency to fight terrorism.

He told reporters here on Thursday that the Jaipur serial blasts that claimed 80 lives on Tuesday were the 21st major explosion to rock the country.

Mr. Naidu alleged that the Government had not taken any action on the inhuman killings at Ayodhya, Varanasi Aurangabad, Melagon, Azmir, Ludhiana, Delhi, Mumbai, IISc in Bangalore, Mecca Masjid at Hyderabad and Guwahati.

The pattern of the Jaipur explosions was similar to those engineered at Sarojini Market in Delhi and Lumbini Park and Gokul Chat Centre in Hyderabad.

He said the Prime Minister had been arguing that such incidents took place even when the POTA was in vogue. But the country knew that the persons accused of the 1993 blasts and those accused of attack on Parliament were convicted under the POTA.

Mr. Naidu alleged that the Congress was soft on jihadi terrorists and Maoists. Vote bank politics and communal approach were standing in the way of tackling terrorism.