By IANS,
New Delhi : Condemning the serial blasts in Ahmedabad, senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani Saturday demanded that President Pratibha Patil give her assent to Gujarat’s long-pending anti-terror law.
“I would demand the president’s assent to the state laws of Gujarat and Rajasthan akin to the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) pending with the (central) government. The Gujarat law has been pending for the last four years,” Advani told reporters here.
“I cannot draw any conclusions. The law has been pending for many years and to approve it should be our immediate response,” said Advani, who represents the Gandhiagar cosntituency, which includes parts of Ahemdabad.
“The anti-terror legal framework of the government has been weakened after the repealing of the POTA (Prevention of Terrorism Act). The alacrity with which the government should have responded to the anti-terror elements has not been there,” said the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha.
The serial blasts in Ahmedabad that killed 16 came a day after a similar terror attack in Karnataka capital Bangalore that claimed one life.
On May 13, Rajasthan capital Jaipur was targeted by a series of bomb blasts that killed over 60 people.
Gujarat, Karnataka and Rajasthan are all ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Asked if the BJP-ruled states were being targeted, Advani said: “It is a matter of concern for me and the whole country. The intelligence agencies should probe this angle also.
“The law and order situation in Gujarat has been satisfactory. I feel there is a sinister design on the part of the terrorists,” he added.