Law minister M. Veerappa Moily on Thursday questioned BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh government's "objection" in handing over the murder case of RSS activist Sunil Joshi to the national investigation agency, saying the party should clarify its stand on terrorism.
"I can't speak on the point of view of BJP. But one question I would like to ask them. Are they in support of terrorists? That is the question they will have to answer to the nation," Mr Moily told reporters while responding to a query on the issue outside Parliament on Thursday.
The Madhya Pradesh government had ruled out the possibility of handing over the investigations to the NIA without mentioning any reason for the refusal.
"There is no question of handing over the probe into Joshi's murder to the NIA," state home minister Uma Shankar Gupta had said.
The law minister said, "Are they in favour of terrorists or do they advocate the case of terrorists. Terrorist issue is a terrorist issue. The question is how can BJP afford to support the terrorists. This is a very simple question. They owe this explanation to the nation."
Joshi, a suspect in the Samjhauta Express blast case, was shot dead in Dewas in Madhya Pradesh on December 29,2007.
Sixty-eight people were killed when bombs went off in two coaches of Samjhauta Express, running between Delhi and Lahore, around midnight on February 18, 2007 at Diwana near Panipat, 80 km North of Delhi.
According to the state police charge-sheet, Joshi was killed in 2007 by fellow Hindu hardliners including Malegaon blast accused Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur for his "high-handedness and the fear" that his arrest would unmask right-wing plotters of explosions in several parts of the country.