Home ministry blames Rajasthan administration

Minister for State (Home) Sriprakash Jaiswal today strongly denied allegations of any central intelligence failure. By contrast, the BJP squarely put the blame of the incident - the death toll went up to 61 - on the Centre and said India needed a strong anti-terror law. In fact, they said, two strong laws aimed at breaking organised crime had been awaiting presidential assent for the last three years.

 

Jaiswal said, "We don't accept this as an intelligence failure. We had informed the Rajasthan government about the possibilities of attacks in religious places. The security agencies can't give specific information about exactly where and when terroists will attack. But broad warnings were given to the state".

Jaiswal also used this opportunity to rake up the old wish of the union government to establish a federal agency.

"We tried our best to convince the states about forming a federal agency. But the response was not positive. This incident again showed that the idea of a federal agency should be discussed", he said.

Jaiswal also didn't miss the opportunity to point out that a few months ago the state had witnessed terror attack in Ajmer Sharif, a sacred place in Rajsthan.

"It (the state government) should have been more cautious after that incident," he said. The Home Minister also minced no words in advising  the states, against the backdrop of attack in Jaipur, about the dangers of neglecting  the intelligence infrastructure.

"The states should also form its own separate intelligence setup. Currently, the intelligence is a part of the police set up and in many states it is perceived that transfer to the intelligence wing is a punishment posting," he added.

An NSG team has been sent to Jaipur to analyse the explosives used in the blasts. Primarily, Home Ministry maintains that Tuesday's incident has links with blasts in Hyderabad, Ajmer Sharif, Varanasi and Faizabad.

Four companies of Rapid Action Force have also been deployed. High explosive RDX was used in the terror strike here, a senior police official said in Jaipur as tell-tale signs pointed towards the involvement of Bangladesh- based Harkat-ul-Jehadi Islami in the serial blasts.

The explosive devices were fitted with timers and planted on cycles, a modus operandi similar to the one used in last year's blasts in court premises in Uttar Pradesh in which HUJI was involved, police said.

Eight persons including a man injured in the blasts and a rickshaw puller are being questioned, they said, noting that seven teams of Rajasthan police and intelligence branch have begun the probe into the blasts.

"It was a surely a terrorist attack on the pattern of blasts in the court premises in UP in November last year. RDX was used in containers tagged to cycles along with timer devices," Additional Director General of Police (Crime) A K Jain said.