Click to play videoNew Delhi: The all-party meeting on Sunday night unanimously agreed on a slew of measures to fight terror, including a Federal Investigating Agency, but failed to achieve a broad political consensus across the political spectrum.
For the past few days Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress have been trying to build a broad agreement. However, the unanimity could not be achieved even after a plea for unity of purpose by Manmohan Singh.
“I do hope that at the end of our discussions today, we will be able to give our collective assurance to the nation that, across the political spectrum, we stand together at this hour,” Singh said during the meeting that lasted five hours.
He also gave his assurance to senior politicians attending this meeting that his government would act and come up with a blueprint to combat terror.
The Bharatiya Janata Party and J Jayalalitha's AIADMK demanded stringent laws and protested the repeal of Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA).
The BJP came down harshly on the failure of the government to contain terrorism.
“We have asked for an immediate session of Parliament so that everything can be discussed there,” BJP’s CM candidate V K Malhotra told CNN-IBN.
But it was Samajwadi Party chief, Mulayam Singh Yadav's remarks which came as a surprise.
He argued that the faith in this government has been shaken after the Mumbai siege and the Government needed to come up with a concrete plan within the fortnight.
While a section of the Left Front demanded the removal of the National Security Advisor, M K Narayanan, even the Telegu Desam was scathing in its attack on the Government's mishandling of terror.
Sunday night was the new Home Minister P.Chidambaram's first meeting and he made use of the platform to explain the Government's position and future plans.
But it was clear that the allies and the Opposition were expecting a lot from him.
Chidambaram knows he'll have to come up with results in less than a month.
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