A day after the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, L K Advani, reiterated the party’s demand for an anti-terror law, party general secretary Arun Jaitley seconded the demand, saying the UPA Government’s weak-kneed approach made India appear “a soft state that can be attacked by terrorists at will”.

Former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee also condoled the deaths in the Jaipur blasts. “The country is with you all in this time of grief. This is the work of the anti-national terror elements trying to disturb peace and amity in the country,” Vajpayee said in a statement.

Jaitley, meanwhile, made a strong pitch for a “POTA-like law” in the country. “Several states have legislated POTA-type laws to deal with organised crime and terrorism after the repeal of POTA. Rajasthan and Gujarat have also legislated such laws. However, the Centre has not accorded Presidential assent to the laws from these states,” he said.

The BJP general secretary in charge of Karnataka elections, where terror figures as a major election issue, said the delay in executing Afzal Guru was linked to “vote-bank politics”.

Calling for stringent measures to check large-scale infiltration from Bangladesh of what could be “potential sleeper cells”, Jaitley said the war on terror would be won not by words but by “national resolve, political courage and decisive action”.

He said: “Many recent terrorist attacks have been masterminded by HuJI, a Bangladesh-based outfit that is an outsourced organisation of al-Qaeda and supported by the ISI. Logistical support to these cross-border terrorist groups is provided by local sleeper cells.”