•Recently we saw serial blasts in Ahmedabad and bomb recoveries in Surat. Do you think there has been an intelligence failure?

Intelligence failure does happen in various cases in different governments. But what is alarming is the failure on the terrorism front as such. Can someone explain why Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan or Gujarat cannot have anti-terror laws when it is in place in Maharashtra? This shows the complete lack of will to deal firmly with terrorism.

The consequence of such laxity on the part of the UPA Government has put the internal security of the country at stake.

Other countries, where human rights are supreme, have special stringent anti-terror laws. Even the US anti-terror law is more stringent than our POTA. The first and the foremost need of the hour is that the authorities should convey the message of zero tolerance to the perpetrators of terror. The UPA Government has failed abysmally in this regard.

•You recently had a joint press conference with Narendra Modi in Delhi. What is the political implication of this?

We have already made a statement. The reason for calling him was that a terror attack had taken place in Gujarat and the Gujarat Government had attained remarkable success in preliminary investigations.

So we thought of calling him as well.

•How do you rate Narendra Modi as a national leader?

No doubt, he is one of the best leaders. He is also a very good administrator. He is doing great work here.

•L K Advani has always been viewed as the hardliner in the BJP. Is this image an asset or a liability now as the would-be PM?

These cliches are irrelevant. A hardliner is a person who decides and stands firm on the decisions. What is wrong in that? One should not be a fanatic.

•In Gujarat, the SC/ST morchas are carrying out community-specific membership drives. Is there a paradigm shift in the party once viewed as a party of the higher castes?

There is no paradigm shift. From the beginning, the BJP tried to include everyone and maintained a holistic approach. That is why you will see that in most of the governments we have been party to, the tribal minister has been a BJP member.