Congress decides to live with Pota

guwahati: chief ministers of fourteen congress-ruled states on friday left the guwahati conclave, grudgingly accepting the fact that prevention of terrorism act (pota) was now a law of the land. most chief ministers were, however, unanimous in their opinion that there was no need for the law at all while others assured that the creation of a law did not necessarily mean that they had to implement it."we already have the armed forces special powers act in our state, hence there is no need for the pota", felt irobi singh, chief minister of manipur, one of the worst insurgency-affected states in the country. "under such circumstances, the question of implementing it in manipur does not arise." as many as fourteen chief ministers of congress-ruled states, together with the party top brass, participated in the two day jamboree of the party which concluded here friday at the state-run ashok bramhaputra hotel on the banks of the mighty bramhaputra. maharashtra chief minister bilasrao desmukh pointed out: "even though there is no need for pota, the fact remains that it''s a central legislation which has become a law of the land." on its implementation, deshmukh added: "see, it''s not for chief ministers to decide in which case to implement it and in which case not to. rather, i think it''s best to leave it to police officials to decide such matters." congress supremo sonia gandhi - it may be mentioned -had already stated on friday afternoon that while the congress had opposed the pota because it was a draconian law, it was in any case now a law of the land. "there was also a feeling amongst the chief ministers that the non-pota laws are perfectly capable of dealing with the situation", the congress president said. speculations were rife that the conclave might issue a directive to congress states not to implement the pota. however, congress insiders said: "this was not possible at all. surely, the party couldn''t have officially ask its chief ministers not to implement a law of the land." on his part, chief minister of arunachal pradesh mukut mithi pointed out that even though pota was a national act, it was not useful in his state. "the terrorist groups operating in my state are not listed under pota. in fact, we have passed a separate ordinance to deal with the problem in our state." amarinder singh, punjab''s chief minister, was of the opinion that the present situation in his state - once a hotbed of terrorists - did not necessitate the implementation of the pota. karnataka chief minister s m krishna was equally certain that "poto or any other law like it" was not required in his state.