BJP accuses Cong of extending 'soft support' to those involved in Red Fort blast

New Delhi, Nov 12 (PTI) The BJP on Wednesday accused the Congress of extending "soft support" to those involved in the Red Fort blast after Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah sought to know the "reason" behind terrorist attacks in the country "during elections".

BJP Karnataka unit president B Y Vijayendra termed the remarks of Siddaramaiah and other Congress leaders on the incident "irresponsible, insensitive and low-level politics" This came after Siddaramaiah in a post on X asked, "What is the reason for terrorist attacks in the country during elections?" Hitting back, BJP national spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari accused the Congress of playing vote bank politics.

"Congress is back to giving soft support to Red Fort Blast accused for vote bank politics," Bhanadari charged in a post on X.

"Rahul Gandhi's Congress always compromises with national interest," he added.

Congress general secretary K C Venugopal said Union Home Minister Amit Shah should take moral responsibility for the blast near the Red Fort in New Delhi.

While talking to reporters in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday, he accused Shah of a "serious security failure".

"When the Mumbai blast happened, when the UPA was in power, the then Home Minister resigned, taking moral responsibility for security. The opposition demanded his resignation, owing to moral responsibility for the security failure," Venugopal said.

Speaking to reporters in Bengaluru, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge termed the blast a "failure of the government" and demanded that the perpetrators of the terrorist act be given exemplary punishment so that it acts as a deterrent.

"The culprits must be punished severely so that others should be afraid of doing it," he said, adding that his party would raise the issue in Parliament during the Winter session next month.

"Now they have handed over the case to the National Intelligence Agency. Let the investigation report be out. The Parliament session will begin on December 1. After that, we will see," said Kharge, who is the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha. PTI PK PK KSS KSS