Sify
 
New Delhi, Feb 8: Government today rubbished senior BJP leader L K Advani's criticism of the UPA government's handling of internal security and said that by doing so "the Prime Minister-in-waiting" was creating an atmosphere of fear and tension. 

Striking a defensive note over the government's internal security record, Union Minister of State for Home Sriprakash Jaiswal told a press conference here that "it is unfortunate that the former Home Minister is making such statements to create an atmosphere of fear and tension."

"It seems that Advani's intention is to generate insecurity by talking of terrorism. Such statements should not be merely denied, but strongly condemned," he said.

Giving comparative figures of the internal security situation during the regimes of NDA and UPA, Jaiswal asserted there has been a 70 per cent improvement in the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, while the position had not deteriorated in the Northeast, if not improved.

So far as the naxal menace was concerned, he said barring Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Jharkhand and Bihar, the problem had been contained up to 90 per cent in other parts.

"Unfortunately, the party of the Prime Minister-in-waiting is in power in three of these four states. He can at least ask the chief ministers of these states to control the problem," he said.

Jaiswal said that as part of a well-planned strategy to "defame" the UPA, Advani was saying that UPA government is synonymous with terrorism. "By saying all this, he will not be able to jump to the Prime Minister's post," he added.