New Delhi, Sep.9 (ANI): Taking on the opposition in the strongest possible way, Union Home Minister P.Chidambaram on Friday rubbished the former's charge that there had once again been an intelligence failure on the part of the UPA II Government in preventing a tragedy like the bomb explosion outside the Delhi High Court premises on Wednesday.
The explosion claimed 13 lives and injured over 70.
Rebutting the opposition view that the UPA II Government was at "war with itself", Chidambaram, hitting back at the BJP, and specifically Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and her counterpart in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitely, said the government is following all possible leads.
He described these leads as "promising but not conclusive", and added that chances of such terror strikes happening were very high as India was located in a troubled neighbourhood.
He rubbished Jaitely charge on the UPA II Government being negligent on "unsolved cases" of terror, but added that some of these unsolved cases had originated in BJP-ruled states.
Referring to the probe conducted into the Delhi High Court blast, he said: "We have done our best. We are addressing past negligence. We have followed up on all intelligence input and questioned a suspect in Jammu and Kashmir."
He also revealed that as per forensic evidence gathered so far, it was now certain that nitrate was used in the bomb explosion.
Earlier this afternoon, the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alleged that the UPA II Government is at war with itself on many issues.
Addressing a press conference here, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj said: "There are differences between the government and the Congress party that came to the fore during the Monsoon Session. Internal differences in the government were clear all through the session."
Asserting that BJP was successful in pushing the government over critical issues, Swaraj said, "Most of the issues that we wanted to discuss were successfully debated by the Parliament."
Claiming a moral victory for the opposition, she said: "Initially there were differences but later on the whole Opposition came together for a larger cause."
She, however, expressed her dissatisfaction over the government's handling of the Gujarat Lokayukta issue where the Governor appointed the ombudsman without getting the assent of the ruling party.
Ruing over the issue, Sushma said: "Gujarat Lokayukta issue is a matter of grave concern as it is clearly a case of bypassing the constitution of the country."
"How can Governor bypass the Chief Minister," she quipped.
Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley seemed very unhappy with the government's handling of terrorism, especially in the wake of Wednesday's Delhi High Court blast that claimed 13 lives.
Asserting the need for a comprehensive anti-terror policy, Jaitley said.
He added: "Government says that they have zero tolerance towards the terrorists, but what we want is zero terrorism in the country. We want the government to take strict measures against the terrorists."
Tackling terrorism is a major challenge and the government must face it", Jaitely added.
Seemingly dissatisfied with the probe into the Delhi HC blast case, the veteran leader said.
"The steps taken by the government are not satisfactory. Still there are no headways made in the probe," he added.
Terming the blast as the result of an intelligence failure, the BJP leader said, "Government's intelligence apparatus has been bypassed by the terrorists. The National Intelligence Agency (NIA) and other agencies have failed to combat terror."
The Monsoon Session of the Parliament that ended on Thursday was very stormy with issues like Anna Hazare's fast, Lokpal Bill, cash-for-votes scam and Delhi High Court blast kept the government on the back-foot all through. (ANI)
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