Polls: Government could be severely jolted

Printed from Polls: Government could be severely jolted 27 Nov 2008, 1906 hrs IST, ET Bureau NEW DELHI: For the Congress, which is slugging it out to oust the BJP from its power-perch in the states of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh andRajasthan, while battling it out to retain Delhi, the latest episode in the long list of jehadi strikes couldn't have taken place at a more inopportune time.  The jehadis struck less than 12 hours before the polling was to start in Madhya Pradesh, and less than three days it was to commence in Delhi. Elections to the Mizoram and Rajasthan assemblies follow soon after, and the party has been left fending the ``soft-on-terror'' charge hurled it by its principal adversary. In a busy election season, the image-deficit suffered by it at this juncture has a severe political cost attached to it.  With Pakistan-sponsored terrorism being reverted back to the centre of the political discourse, the Congress leadership will be confronted with uncomfortable questions in the coming days. The fact that terror attacks in the country have become a matter of routine, and have been taking place at an alarming frequency of late does not hold good portends for the principal ruling party and its alliance partners. As the calls for a ``muscular'' policy on combating terror grow louder, the party brass is expected to come under a more intense pressure from the BJP-led NDA to give up the policies pursued by its government so far.  Pushed on the back-foot, a beleaguered Congress president, Ms Sonia Gandhi dubbed the terror strikes in Mumbai as ``a barbaric act'' to weaken the country, and said that the terrorists, who were ``enemies of the country,'' ``would be dealt with sternly.''  Also Read  → Govt has a lot to answer for: BJP  → Coast Guard locates suspected terrorist ship M V Alpha  → Nine foreign nationals killed in terror attacks in Mumbai  → 6 killed, 200 trapped in Oberoi Trident ``This is not only a matter of security of the country, but also of its pride. Terrorists are the enemies of the country and we have to deal with them sternly,'' Ms Gandhi, who is also UPA chairperson, said in a strongly-worded statement.  Maintaining that no challenge can shake a nation's firm resolve, she said her message to those ``attempting to weaken the country through such barbaric ways is that we will stop only after rooting out terrorism.''  Hailing as ``great patriots'' the police officials and personnel who laid down their lives fighting the terrorists, she expressed confidence that the whole nation was behind them.  The UPA chairperson asked the state governments to review the security scenario and improve the situation, wherever necessary. Expressing grief and anguish at the terror strikes, she said that they posed a threat to the entire country and "we have to deal with unitedly. I know that the entire nation is one on the issue....'' .  The BJP, on the other hand. has already signalled its intention of cornering the Congress on the issue in the coming days. Even though Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, known for his tough, no-nonsense approach on terrorism, on Thursday steered clear of blaming the Manmohan Singh government for its failure to pre-empt the latest round of terror attacks in India's commercial capital, but called for the display of political will and resolve to contain the menace.  Mr Modi, who's emerged as the BJP's most vocal and visible anti-terror face, has been a bitter critic of the Manmohan Singh government's track-record on internal security. In fact, in his election rallies held at various places in Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, and before that in Karnataka and his home state Gujarat, the Congress-led UPA government's ``weak'' reflexes on terrorism figured high in his speeches, drawing an enthusiastic response from the crowd.  Wasting no time to make his point, the Gujarat chief minister wrote a letter to the prime minister on Thursday, urging him to convene a meeting of all chief ministers to discuss the internal security situation facing the country.  He also asked the prime minister to convene another meeting --this time of chief ministers of coastal states, particularly of those lying on the western coast, having common border with Pakistan. ``For the first time, the terrorists have used the sea-route to carry out their strikes. We need to draw a special strategy to combat this,''