UP blasts: Home minister under fire from friends

Young MP close to the Gandhi family takes on Patil in House

In an unprecedented act, a junior Congress MP today directed his guns at his party colleague, Home Minister Shivraj Patil, for recent serial blasts in Uttar Pradesh.

Reacting to Patil's suo motu statement on the issue, MPs cutting across party lines blamed the Centre for intelligence failures and inability to prevent recent terrorist strikes.

Jitin Prasada, Congress MP from Shahjahanpur (UP) who is considered close to the Gandhi family, criticised the home ministry, although party President Sonia and Rahul Gandhi were present in the House. "There is a need to strengthen the central intelligence network," said Prasada.

The allies of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) didn't spare the government either. Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Devendra Prasad Yadav came down heavily on Patil, especially on the non-availability of intelligence inputs.

"Outsiders are creating problems in our country. Has our intelligence network totally failed to catch these people before they strike?" Yadav asked Patil.

Patil said it was impossible for the central intelligence units to keep an eye on every corner of the country. Patil's argument was that agencies like RAW, IB and defence intelligence could at best give inputs on macro-level activities.

State intelligence units like the CID were responsible for gathering intelligence in various parts of the state, he said.

The Left parties also jumped on the bandwagon and criticised the government. "There is a colossal failure of the intelligence network. This happened during the time of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and is continuing in Manmohan Singh's tenure," said Gurudas Dasgupta of the CPI.

Patil, in his statement, said a meeting of chief ministers was being convened in a fortnight to discuss the security situation in the country following recent terror strikes in the country.

Patil also rejected the BJP's demand for a POTA-like draconian law to deal with terrorists.