New Delhi/Patna: Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde are visiting the Mahabodhi temple at Bodh Gaya in Bihar, the site of multiple blasts on Sunday, in the shadow of a raging political slugfest over terror.
The visit – the first by any union minister since the blasts – comes a day after the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chose to target the Centre for failing to check terror.
Mr Shinde is expected to meet officials of investigating agencies as well as the state government to review security.
On Tuesday, BJP president Rajnath Singh, along with senior party leaders Arun Jaitley and Ravi Shankar Prasad, visited the Mahabodhi temple and later criticized the Centre, intensifying the political blame-game that has marked the aftermath of the terror strike.
After initially targeting former ally, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, the BJP yesterday sought to turn the heat on the Congress-led UPA.
“No state can act against terror by itself, the Centre must help,” said Rajnath Singh, when repeatedly asked if he blamed the state government. He demanded a “comprehensive action plan so that any kind of terror attack, biological, chemical or cyber, can be countered.”
Very early on Sunday morning, there were ten synchronised blasts in different parts of the temple. Two monks were injured. Investigators later found three unexploded bombs, one even placed 20 feet high on a Buddha statue.
