On the eve of Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s visit to Jaipur to meet victims of the serial bomb blasts, Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje questioned the purpose of the visit, saying if Gandhi wanted to make a “political point”, this was not the time.

“What’s the point? If you are coming to make a political point, it’s not the time. If she is coming to bring something for the aggrieved people, we all welcome her. Until you start changing the way you deal with us (states), how can you help us by coming here? If the UPA had re-introduced POTA or if we had got the RCOCA (Rajasthan Control of Organised Crime Bill which is pending with the Centre), may be, we would not have it (the blasts),” Vasundhara Raje told The Indian Express this evening.

When Gandhi visited the state during the floods last year, Rajasthan demanded Rs 3,200 crore. “We got nothing. The state government bore the entire expenses of rehabilitation and compensation,” said Vasundhara Raje. Earlier, Sonia had gone to Banswara but people got “nothing” from it.

“When I go somewhere, I want to see the problems of people and try to solve them. Otherwise, what’s point of going there?” the CM said.

Miffed by the Centre’s perceived attempt to play politics over the blasts, she demanded a meeting of all Chief Ministers to discuss internal security. She was particularly perturbed about Minister of State for Home Sriprakash Jaiswal’s comment immediately after the blasts that the Centre had given intelligence inputs about a terror threat to the state.

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