Kullu (Himachal Pradesh), May 11 (IANS) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi Monday accused the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government of being weak in fighting terrorism.
“The central government, led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who has to run to (Congress president) Sonia Gandhi to get her consent before every decision, has no wherewithal to tackle terrorism in the country,” Modi said at an election rally at Bhuntar near Kullu in Himachal Pradesh.

“The UPA is acting only as a news collecting agency by disseminating information about how many terrorists have infiltrated into India instead of taking them head-on,” he contended.

At another rally at Hamirpur town, Modi tried to woo the ex-servicemen by assuring them the “one-rank-one-pension” demand would be accepted if the BJP was voted to power.

“The issue would be resolved once the BJP comes to power,” he said.

The Hamirpur constituency has a strong presence of families of serving and retired armed force personnel. From this constituency, sitting MP and BJP candidate Anurag Thakur, the son state Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, is pitted against Congress candidate Narinder Thakur, who is a BJP defector.

“I am under constant attack from SRP (Sonia, Rahul and Priyanka). This attack started only after our prime ministerial candidate L.K. Advani raised the issue of black money stashed in foreign banks,” Modi said.

The four Lok Sabha seats of Himachal Pradesh - Shimla (reserved), Mandi, Hamirpur and Kangra - will go to the polls in the final phase May 13.

In the 2004 general elections, the Congress had won the Shimla, Kangra and Mandi parliamentary seats, while the BJP bagged the Hamirpur seat.