New Delhi, July 28: The BJP today almost suggested that the Centre had organised the Bangalore and Ahmedabad blasts to “divert attention from the cash-for-votes scandal”.

“There is something called circumstantial evidence. Two BJP-ruled states have been targeted within four days of government winning the trust vote,” senior leader Sushma Swaraj said.

Asked if she was pointing a finger at the Centre, she retorted that she said what she “wanted to and it was for the government to understand.”

The allegations are bound to pound the Opposition’s already-frayed relations with the Centre to a new low.

Sushma, speaking not during a party meeting but at a news conference, said there was “a conspiracy to divert attention from the cash-for-vote scandal”. “The UPA is worried the Muslims are angry because of the pro-US nuclear deal. Now Muslims are being frightened by these blasts so that they return to the UPA.”

Sushma said the “truth” about the blasts “will come out in a few days” but, as her remarks suggested, couldn’t wait until then to make such allegations, which come after the BJP’s assurances that it would extend all co-operation to the government in fighting terror.

The party’s charge that the UPA regime is soft towards terror isn’t new

However, Sushma’s remarks are said to have surprised even some BJP leaders, who expressed disbelief that such charges had been made at a formal news conference.

Congress hits back

The Congress hit back, accusing the BJP of trying to make political capital of the blasts.

“It is always a fact that after such incidents, the BJP takes political advantage. We have never used them. Any party which likes to divide the polity of the country gains an advantage in such situations,” Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh said.

Singh, who said the BJP was “in a bind” after losing the trust vote in Parliament, added: “The timing of the blasts in uncanny. In Karnataka, there was a blast at Hubli after the first phase of elections, followed by the Jaipur blasts before the third phase. And then came the blasts in Bangalore and Ahmedabad after the trust vote.”

Singh blamed L.K. Advani for vitiating the atmosphere. “Before 1990, there were no incidents of blasts outside of Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab and the Northeast. But after Advani’s rath yatra and the communal campaign that followed, these incidents started all over India.”