Crude bomb found on Advani's yatra route

A round of recce ahead of his scheduled pass along an arterial southern Tamil Nadu road averted a possible attack against L K Advani, as a crude pipe-bomb was recovered on Friday from the outskirts of Madurai — along the route the BJP veteran was to take on the second leg of his ongoing nation-wide march against corruption.

The 83-year-old former deputy prime minister was on his way to Srivilliputhur via Tirumangalam, where he is scheduled to address a public meeting.

It was just before that the police, sources within the force said, stumbled upon a five-feet pipe bomb connected with wires from under a bridge at Alampatti. The place is near Tirumangalam, about 30 km from Madurai. One person, identified as Nehru, has been detained. “We are questioning him,” a police source said. Advani’s Jan Chetna Yatra later passed three down-state districts of Madurai, Tirunelveli and Virudhunagar, before crossing over to Kerala, where he addressed a meeting in the evening. On his part, Advani continued to accuse the union government of “shamelessly defending” the corrupt. That was why, he claimed, the UPA regime “will not take action” to bring back black money stashed in foreign accounts because it wants to hide and shield the corrupt.

Advani chose to describe Tamil Nadu as the “epicentre of the 2G spectrum scam earthquake”. The multicrore rupee loss was a result of not just one ally of the UPA; it has deeper roots among higher government functionaries who “failed to take prompt remedial measures” against the “looting of a huge amount of public revenue”. The Congress led government, he added, had a lot to hide, said Advani, while talking to reporters in Madurai.

At the rally earlier, Advani asked the government to accord top priority to safety issues at the upcoming Kundankulam nuclear plant, and not get bogged down by commercial and contractual obligations.

“The safety of human being must be the only factor. All concerns in this regard must be satisfied in a transparent manner. India must learn from the experience of Japan,” he added, hinting at the March 11 Fukoshima nuclear plant disaster, on March 11 this year in the wake of a tsunami caused risk to human life, he added.