 "UPA needs to exhibit greater will to fight terrorism: Rajnath Singh")
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Rajnath Singh on Tuesday accused the Congress-led UPA Government for failing to tackle terror attacks in the country, and said that the ruling party at the Centre needs to exhibit greater will to fight terrorism.
"The UPA Government has proven to be a failure on this. We demand that the government comes up with a comprehensive plan so as to face any challenge, be it any kind of attacks. We urge the Central Government to take immediate steps to secure this temple site," he told the media here.
Singh, who reviewed the situation here along with his senior party colleague Arun Jaitley post Sunday's multiple blasts in the temple town of Bodh Gaya, alleged that the Congress Party has pitted the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against Intelligence Bureau (IB).
"Security agencies should not be misused for politics. They need to coordinate with each other to fight challenges like terrorism," said Singh.
"If there was an intelligence input, then the security at main Buddhist centers should have been stepped up," he added, while taking a jibe at Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
Jaitley on his part lashed out at the Centre, and said that it has made intelligence agencies an issue of vote bank politics.
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"UPA has bartered security issues with vote bank politics," he said.
The BJP has so far targeted the Bihar Chief Minister for failing to prevent the terror attack on the Mahabodhi temple.
"It is a serious issue that central agencies had warned about this attack and given specific inputs that Bodh Gaya would be attacked and still no proper arrangements were made (by the state government)," BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said earlier.
Nitish Kumar has, however, dismissed suggestions that there was any security lapse, and said adequate precautionary measures were taken to beef up security at the Mahabodhi temple and surrounding areas in the wake of intelligence inputs.
Kumar also said that those responsible for the terror strike in the temple town of Bodh Gaya would not be spared.
"This is the first incident of serial blasts in Bihar. All angles are being investigated. We shouldn't speculate on who was responsible for the serial blasts. Let the NIA complete its probe and then the culprit will be brought to justice," he told the media here.
Kumar further informed that his government is mulling the creation of an anti-terror squad in Bihar.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has begun probing the serial blasts, which rocked the temple town of Bodh Gaya on Sunday. Two monks were injured in the nine low intensity blasts.
Security agencies suspect that Indian Mujahideen may be behind Sunday's multiple blasts. No group has so far claimed responsibility for the blasts.
The Home Ministry has directed all states to ensure foolproof security at Buddhist shrines and Tibetan settlements.