Taking strong exception to the comments of Minister of State for Home Shakeel Ahmed against senior leader L K Advani, the BJP has demanded his ouster from the Cabinet.

“His comments are irresponsible, shameful, lacking in political grace and thoroughly condemnable. How can he equate Advani and the Rajasthan Chief Minister with terrorists?” asked BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad here on Saturday.

Ahmed had said that “those trying to take political advantage of the terror attacks in Jaipur should also be condemned just like terrorists”.

“Shakeel Ahmed ought to be sacked from the Cabinet for his irresponsible utterances. The Congress should apologise for its leader’s comments against Advani and BJP leaders,” said Prasad, adding “Advani’s charge that there has been no credible intelligence sharing has been echoed by National Security Advisor M K Narayanan”.

While the BJP went hammer and tongs at the Congress, Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil asked everyone to “desist from making statements that can create misunderstandings between the agencies and governments”. “No statement which can create misunderstanding between the agencies and governments should be made by those who are involved in doing their duties. This is necessary to present a picture which is helpful for the task to be performed,” he said in a statement.

The BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, however, once again slammed the UPA Government for “failing the nation”. “If the Government’s failure to contain price rise is threatening economic security of the ‘Aam Aadmi’, its failure to check terrorism is threatening national security,” Advani told reporters in Hyderabad on Saturday.

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