The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : BJP wants action plan to combat terrorism

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Monday, May 05, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

BJP wants action plan to combat terrorism

Special Correspondent

Bangalore: Accusing the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government of adopting a casual approach in dealing with terrorism, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has demanded that the Centre should immediately come out with a comprehensive and integrated action plan for combating terrorism after taking all major political parties into confidence.

Addressing a press conference here on Sunday, BJP national president Rajnath Singh said that the existence of more than 5,000 sleeper modules of terrorists in the country was a clear indication that India is sitting on a “tinder box”.

According to the US State Department’s annual report on “Global Terrorism in 2007,” India continued to be ranked among the world’s most terror-afflicted countries as 2,300 lives had been lost in that year in terrorist attacks. This accounted for 10 per cent of those killed in terrorist acts in the entire world that year, he said.

Alleging that the loan waiver scheme had failed to generate hope and confidence among debt-ridden farmers, Mr. Singh urged the UPA Government to come out with a ten-year plan on agriculture for bailing out farmers from the crisis. Such a plan should be discussed at a special session of Parliament, he said.

Mr. Singh expressed dissatisfaction over the UPA describing its Budget as farmer-centric. He said the statistics would indicate that the average benefit of loan waiver would be only around Rs. 4,500 for a farmer.

Confident of win

Shimoga Special Correspondent reports:

Speaking to presspersons at the helipad soon after his arrival in Shimoga, Mr. Singh said there was no doubt that the BJP would win with a comfortable majority and form a government on its own. The pre-poll alliance of the BJP and the Janata Dal (United) had failed owing to lack of understanding, he said.

Mr. Singh said that he was confident that the former Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa would win in Shikaripur by defeating the former Chief Minister S. Bangarappa. Asked whether his party had thought of an alternative leader to be made Chief Minister if Mr. Yeddyurappa was defeated in the elections, Mr. Singh said it was a hypothetical situation.

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