No partisan politics over terrorism: Manish Tewari

NEW DELHI: Union Minister Manish Tewari today said there should be no partisan politics over terrorism and expressed the Centre willingness to work with states to bring perpetrators of terror attacks to justice.

"I think what happened in Bangalore is extremely unfortunate. We have always believed that terror has no place in a civilised society and there should be absolutely no politicking on the question of terror," the I&B Minister told reporters here.

He was responding to questions related to the blast in Bangalore.

"The stand of the UPA government (against terrorism) has always been consistent and clear. We will work with state governments to see that the perpetrators are brought to justice. Therefore, I would like to appeal to everybody, even though we are in election season, understand the sensitivity of the issue and not politicise it in any manner," he said.

Tewari refused to be drawn into questions related to the comment made by Congress leader Shakeel Ahmed that the blast near BJP office in Bangalore will help the party in elections.

"On the question of terror, on the question of national security, the Congress has never indulged in partisan politics and we expect everybody else to rise to the same benchmark," Tewari said.

When asked to respond to reports that Shiv Sena had asked BJP to identify its prime ministerial candidate, Tewari hit out at the opposition.

"When you have lurking, sulking, closeted Prime Ministerial ambitions tucked away in the Bhartiya Janata Party, I think it is best left to them and their allies," he said.