'There was no terror alert for Varanasi'

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Wednesday vehemently refuted Union Home Minister P Chidambaram's claim that the Centre had forewarned the Uttar Pradesh government against a possible terrorist strike in Varanasi.

Speaking on behalf of Mayawati, UP Cabinet Secretary Shashank Shekhar Singh bluntly told mediapersons in Lucknow, "There was no specific actionable input from central intelligence agencies regarding the blast that rocked Shitla ghat near Dasashwamedh ghat on the banks of the Ganga in Varanasi on Tuesday evening."

Flatly denying any security lapse as alleged by Chidambaram, he asserted, "Shitla ghat at Varanasi was sanitised by the police barely an hour-and-a-half before the blast. In fact, it was a routine exercise carried out by the local police prior to the daily Ganga aarti, which draws huge crowds."

Meanwhile, in an obvious bid to subtly pass the buck to the Centre, Mayawati also shot off a letter to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh seeking as many as 125 companies of central para-military

forces to upgrade the security at all vulnerable religious spots and tourist attractions across UP.

Singh said, "The chief minister has sought to draw the prime minister's attention to the fact that when the Centre has provided special contingents of para-military forces to Maharashtra to meet its anti-terrorist protection requirements, then there was no reason for them denying the same to UP. After all UP is the most populous state in the country and had been on the target of different terrorist outfits, who have struck here 18 times since 2000."

Referring to Chidambaram's claim about having sounded the UP government on a possible strike at Varanasi, Singh said, "The input provided to us on February 25 was an alert specific to Dussehra, which passed off peacefully a month and a half ago. It would be unfair to assume that a 10-month-old alert should be taken into account."

He added that the two advisories sent on November 25 and December 5 to UP, as the home minister mentioned, were routine alerts issued every year on those dates.