US offer’s not interference, says Patil

Patil said the Home Ministry dealt with such offers in consultation with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). A senior Ministry official said there was nothing unusual about the US offer. India had an agreement with the US and 21 other countries for cooperation in countering terrorism.

He said: ‘‘We keep asking one another if any help is needed.’’ He recalled that India had extended help to the US with regard to the investigation of the 9/11 attack.

Asked if India would accept the US offer, the official said: ‘‘We have adequate expertise to handle it (the inquiry).’’ Contending that it was not a rejection of the offer, he said: ‘‘We can tell them — thank you.’’

An MEA spokesman said the offer of FBI assistance had been ‘‘in terms of ongoing co-operation between our two countries on counter-terrorism. The offer will be considered in terms of the existing guidelines of the Government of India’’.

The CPI(M) Politburo termed the US offer a direct interference in India’s internal affairs and asked the government to reject it outright. Mulford, the CPI(M) said, had no business to write to a state CM directly. The party also took on Gogoi saying that his indication of willingness to accept the US offer was ‘‘condemnable’’.

Jayanti Natarajan said the Congress appreciated the US concern over violent incidents and its anxiety to fight terror, but the offer of assistance ‘‘should have been routed through normal channels’’.

BJP vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi refused comment saying it was for the Government to respond to it.