Coimbatore: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president M Venkaiah Naidu on August 30 ruled out the question of removal of Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA), but said there could be some safeguards against its misuse.

"There may be some instances of misuse of this act, but there is no question of removal of POTA," Naidu told a press conference. However, he refused to go into the details, saying that a committee, constituted for its meaningful review, was already at it.

When reporters referred to the case of Vaiko, general secretary of Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK), an ally of National Democratic Alliance (NDA) at the Centre, Naidu said that BJP had already opposed the "misuse" of POTA against Vaiko. Since the matter was before the court, it was not proper to discuss the issue now, he said.

On scrapping of Article 356, he said BJP wanted the Article to remain in the Constitution. But we should provide some safeguards against its misuse, Naidu said.

It was an irony that those who were opposing the Article had supported it and those who supported it had opposed it at the recent national integration council meeting, he said.

PTI