BJP wants Bihar government to clear stand on SIMI

PATNA: Taking note of confession by a SIMI activist about the plot to kill Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, BJP today criticised the Nitish Kumar government for delay in replying the Centre's note for a ban on the outfit.

"It is intriguing that the state government has failed to reply to the Home Ministry's note seeking the state's stand on extending ban on SIMI even after the arrested SIMI activist Umer Siddique confessed that there was a terror plot to kill Modi during the serial blasts his rally in Patna last month," senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi said in a statement here.

The former deputy Chief Minister alleged that it was regrettable that the state government was looking at a serious issue like terrorism through the 'spectacles of religion' and intentionally not taking a stand on banning SIMI.

He said his party's worst fear about the serial blasts being carried out to eliminate the party's prime ministerial candidate has come true after Siddique's confession.

Siddique had revealed that his associates had carried out recce at Kanpur, Ambikapur and Delhi rallies of Modi, but failed to execute their plot because of tight security, he said.

Modi criticised the Nitish Kumar government for failure to provide proper security for the Hunkar Rally which was marred by serial blasts claiming seven lives, including that of a perpetrator.

It was due to the negligent security at the rally that terrorists had succeeded in planting a bomb close to the dais, but providentially it did not explode and was defused subsequently, Modi said.

He alleged that the state government's soft attitude towards terrorists made them succeed in carrying out blasts at Bodh Gaya and Patna which has dented Bihar's image globally.