No political vendetta in Malegaon probe: Cong

Minister of State for Home Affairs in the Prime Minister's Office Prithviraj Chavan told newsmen in New Delhi that there was no political vendetta by the Mumbai Anti-Terrorism Squad investigating the Malegoan blast in which sadhavi Pragya Singh Thakur and Lieutenant Colonel Srikant Purohit and some others have been picked up for interrogation.

"(Bharatiya Janata Party leader) L K Advani is speaking all sorts of things. Let me tell you that it is a fair investigation that is being carried out by the specially constituted cell of the Mumbai police."

During his speeches in Chhattisgarh, Advani had charged the United Progressive Alliance of framing sadhvi Pragya and Lt Col Purohit and conducting the investigations with the intention of gaining political advantage.

Another BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu charged the ATS of following the directives of the  office of Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and bringing a bad name to the country by launching investigations against the army and Hindu sadhvis and sants. "The Congress has learnt the politics of divide and rule from the Englishmen," he said.

He took strong objection to Congress leader Digvijay Singh's statement against the party and Advani. "The BJP is very clear that whosoever is guilty of executing or supporting terrorist acts must be punished as per law. The BJP does not support or accept terrorism in any form or shade. But we strongly condemn the politicisation of the ATS, which is being used as a tool to malign sadhus and sanths. It will certainly face the wrath of the people in the coming elections."

He wanted to know why the government was adopting double standards in investigating the cases. They picked up Malegaon because it gave them political mileage but what about other terrorism cases?" he asked.

"Why is the ATS is giving a running commentary on its investigation into the Malegaon blasts case? Why is it planting unsubstantiated information about the involvement of sadhus, sadhvis and swamis with a deliberate intent to malign the Hindu community as a whole, and nationalist forces in particular? If it has any specific evidence, let it be produced in a court of law," he said.