Accusing the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government of "going into a slumber" while dealing with terrorism, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday said the Centre must immediately convene a conference of all chief ministers to discuss setting up of a special federal agency to combat acts of terror.
The states and the Centre must act together as the states alone cannot effectively deal with terror strikes, senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu told media-persons in Delhi.
"There is need for political will to put an end to terrorism. The Union government should wake up from its slumber and provide identity cards to all citizens, as mooted by the earlier National Democratic Alliance government," Naidu said.
To a question on the allegation made by senior party colleague Sushma Swaraj on Monday that the recent blasts were a conspiracy to divert attention from the "cash-for-votes scam", Naidu said, "This is what the media has reported. I don't think she would have made such a statement."
Naidu said both the issues -- blasts and the scam -- were important and should be debated.
Calling for a country-wide campaign against terrorism, Naidu said there was an atmosphere of terror and fear psychosis. Acts of terrorism had become a routine affair and the Centre appears to be helpless, he said referring to the serial blasts in Bangalore and Ahmedabad.
"It is a proxy war waged by our enemy. The terrorists are aided and abetted, funded and trained from across the border. The diabolic design of the terrorists is to subvert India, cripple its economy, disrupt normalcy and create communal disharmony," Naidu said.