Heat on Patil, internal insecurity in his party

Party sources, however, said that although the Congress President is yet to reveal her mind on the issue, the Home Minister’s exit is very unlikely given that it will play right into the hands of the Opposition and be an admission of failure in the last days of the government’s tenure. Close aides of the Home Minister said that National Security Advisor M K Narayanan, too, should be asked to explain given that intelligence agencies report to him.

While Lalu, in separate meetings with Prime Minister Mamohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi, was learnt to have raised questions about the functioning of the Home Minister — Patil was under fire from Lalu and allies over the mismanagement of the Amarnath crisis as well — he was guarded outside. “Resignation of the Minister is not the solution,” he said. “It will not end terror attacks.” Lalu criticised intelligence agencies for their routine failure to provide credible inputs. He asked for an emergency Cabinet meeting and an all-party meeting to discuss the issue, even a “task force” to deal with terrorism-related issues. Ironically, Lalu was among those opposed to the ban on SIMI just weeks ago.

Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh came out in Patil’s defence saying that the NDA had never demanded the resignation of then Home Minister LK Advani despite a series of terror strikes, including the one on Parliament. “The only crime he did, as reports said, was that he (Patil) changed his dress thrice (on Saturday). You cannot remove a Home Minister just because he changed his dress,” said Singh.

The Home Minister himself put up a brave front telling CNN-IBN in an interview that he enjoyed “full blessings” of his leader (a reference to Sonia). Asked why he wasn’t called to the meeting today, he said: “Please don’t put me on the defensive. That is not the style my leader, my party works. My party’s ethos is to do justice and to see that it is done in a manner which contains and controls criminal and terrorist activities and at the same time doesn’t give any opportunity to human rights violation.” Party officials said Patil was busy at an international conference of police and intelligence chiefs and, therefore, was conspicuously absent from the meeting attended by senior leaders including Pranab Mukherjee, A K Antony, Ahmed Patel, Janardan Dwivedi, Digvijay Singh, Margaret Alva, and M Veerappa Moily.

AICC spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi rejected the demand for the Home Minister’s resignation arguing that it would create “instability” in such a situation.

“There is no question of it being a referendum on anybody’s performance¿Please do not reduce it to individuals,” said Singhvi reiterating the need for a Central agency to tackle terror, an issue on which even Congress Chief Ministers do not seem to have any consensus. While Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh has been non-committal saying he is yet to take a view on this issue, his Delhi counterpart Sheila Dikshit told The Indian Express today, “Do we have a choice if it is done?”