'Blasts due of govt's soft attitude on terrorism'

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday held the government's 'soft attitude' towards terrorism squarely responsible for the spurt in terrorist attacks and decided to raise the Uttar Pradesh serial blasts issue in Parliament on Monday.

"Terrorists are striking at will. They are getting bolder and it is a challenge to the rule of law," party chief Rajnath Singh said while noting that the increase in terror attacks was a matter of serious concern.

He said the serial blasts in Varanasi, Lucknow and Faizabad, which claimed at least 13 lives, was the result of the Congress-led government's 'soft approach' towards terrorism.

"The dastardly attack on civilian targets is condemnable," he added. Singh and senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi will visit the blast sites on Saturday.

Pointing out that the attacks showed a lapse in security, senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj said the security situation in the country was deteriorating day by day because of the government's soft-peddling on terrorism.

"Terrorist attacks occurred during the previous National Democratic Alliance government's time also but were essentially retaliatory in nature because the A B Vajpayee government was coming down heavily on them," she added.

Swaraj claimed that the serial blasts in UP were the result of 'gross failure' of intelligence agencies and alleged that the United Progressive Alliance government was not able to arrest even a single terrorist despite attacks at several places.

"In Delhi during Diwali and at Banaras during Holi, this is what is happening in the country," she said.