Zeenews Bureau
New Delhi, Sept 15: In the wake of the series of blasts in the capital, Congress president Sonia Gandhi convened an emergency meet to discuss internal security on Monday. The high-level meet was attended by senior leaders of the Congress Party, however, in view of growing demands for the ouster of Home Minister Shivraj Patil, facing flak for going soft on terror, was not invited to the meet.
Incidentally, sidelining of Patil from the core group clearly indicates that the Congress Party is not in a mood anymore to shield him any further from the growing voices against him and his handling of the internal security scenario.
The senior leaders who attended the meet include AK Antony, Pranab Mukherjee, Margaret Alva, Ahmed Patel, Janardhan Dwivedi, V Moliy and Digivijay Singh.
Although, not one of the leaders who attended the meet disclosed the details about what all was discussed. But, reports suggest that Patil’s poor performance was surely on the agenda.
Patil has being drawing criticism from all corners for not doing enough to handle terrorists, who are striking at will, with impunity.
The situation was precipitated today after Union Railways Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav openly critisised the Home Minister for not doing ‘enough’. Lalu went on to add that the Intelligence apparatus has weakened in recent times, with the IB being ineffective to tackle the growing problems with internal security.
“I would like to know why the Police and Intelligence Bureau are failing to crack the plans of the perpetrators of the serial blasts in various states in recent times. I have spoken to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi on the issue so that they can take corrective steps,” said Lalu.
Intelligence agencies are not working upto expectations: Lalu Prasad
Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav on Monday accused Intelligence agencies of not being upto the mark and urged them to strengthen their network.
Following the serial blasts that rocked Delhi on Saturday, Lalu Prasad called for a high level meeting to discuss a strategy to deal firmly with terrorists in the country.
He made this observation after a meeting with UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi.
Meanwhile, the Gujarat police said SIMI activists Qayamuddin Kapadia and Abdul Subhan alias Tauqueer, who are wanted for serial blasts in Ahmedabad, could be behind the Delhi terror attacks.
Gujarat’`s Anti Terror Squad was tracking Qayamuddin in Delhi two days before the blasts and has strong indicators to suggest that he was in Delhi at the time of the blasts along with four other SIMI suspects.
Joint Commissioner of Police Ashish Bhatia said: "There is a possibility that other SIMI members who are wanted in the Ahmedabad blasts cases, could be involved in the Delhi blasts."
He claimed that Qayamuddin was present at the terror training camps held in Kerala and Halol in Gujarat.
According to Gujarat police, Tauqeer is a computer expert based in Mumbai, having wide knowledge about making of bombs. He is suspected to have designed the bombs detected in Surat days after the Ahmedabad blasts.
