Serious threat to disrupt polls: PM

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Friday said there was a 'serious threat' by terrorists to disrupt the coming elections in India and admitted his government had failed to ward off terror attacks.
'There is a serious threat. There is no doubt that terrorists have not given up the evil design to destabilise our country to interfere with the poll process. The successful poll process in Jammu and Kashmir has not been liked by some forces abroad,' Manmohan Singh said during an interaction with women journalists at the Hotel Taj Palace here.
'Every effort is being made to disrupt the poll process through infiltration. We are alert and have to be alert to deal with the menace,' he said to members of the Indian Women's Press Corps.
Referring to the terror attacks that occurred in the country in the past few years, Manmohan Singh said: 'Let me be candid. We have not been successful in warding off terrorist attacks. This requires greater attention.'
'Under the new home minister, we have come out with a new document - which sets out our strategy. There is no way but to strengthen intelligence, state police forces and to strengthen our ability to deal with these terrorist attacks, to ensure that the fallout is minimal,' he said.
'You must remember India is country of one billion people. I cannot discuss in public how the US deals with terrorism and Indian cannot.
He said India could not emulate some of the 'draconian' methods that the US used to deal with terrorism, he added.