Chidambaram slams Modi, asks if he wants POTA

After Narendra Modi criticised the central government over its handling of security in the country, Finance Minister P Chidambaram refuted the statements and said that all the Gujarat Chief Minister wanted was the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) to be brought back, which the Congress would always oppose. The former Home Minister took strong exception to the Gujarat Chief Minister’s comment on the Centre not bringing an anti-terorrism law saying that Modi should just say that he wanted the repealed POTA to be brought back. “Why doesn’t he just say he wants POTA and TADA too?” a caustic Chidambaram said. [caption id=“attachment_844223” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  PTI[/caption] He said that the BJP had pressed for provisions of POTA to have be introduced in other laws in the past and the Congress would continue to oppose any such plan. “The BJP can candidly say they want POTA back and we will candidly oppose it,” Chidambaram said. When asked about the Gujarat Chief Minister’s demand for a white paper on security, Chidambaram responded,“There is a monthly account of what the Home Ministry is doing. That is one half of the white paper Modi is asking for.” The former Home Minister said that the Gujarat chief minister had originally opposed the creation of a Multi-Agency Centre but has since taken to praising it. Chidambaram said he took strong exception to the manner in which the BJP had criticised the CBI over its investigation into the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case. The investigating agency had interrogated the former Gujarat Police officer who had issued the terror alert that resulted in the Mumbra-resident being killed. The BJP has accused the Congress of using the CBI to target Modi. “It’s the CBI’s decision, why accuse the government of India or the Congress party. Such statements are gross interference in CBI investigations,” he said. The Finance Minister said that the Gujarat Chief Minister may be flaunting his victory in the bypolls in the state but questioned the kind of candidates that had been fielded by Modi’s party pointing out that one of the winners was former Congress legislator Vitthal Radadiya was a defector to the BJP, who had been caught wielding a gun and was facing multiple corruption cases.