NIA will be taking over all so-called saffron terror related cases. The irony about it is that the news comes just days after a WikiLeaks cable showed that the home minister P Chidambaram himself doubted whether the NIA had the constitutional authority to interfere in law and order matters, which are overseen by states.

The Home Minister has ordered the National Investigative Agency to take over all cases of saffron terror treading on tricky legal ground.

Sources tell NewsX that the MP government is now drawing up a legal strategy to combat the NIA's takeover of Saffron terror cases. The MP government plans to insist on the unconstitutionality of the move. Under the Constitution, law and order is a state subject.

The MP governments argument is that the cases are already pending in courts at the state level and therefore the move crosses constitutional limits and politically, the BJP is arguing that the congress led UPA was selectively targeting it with an intent of communalizing terror.

“If they would have decided to transfer all terror related cases  to NIA it seems logical but if they are transfering only "hindu terror", what is this Hindu terror is all about. Do you say Muslim terror?” says BJP’s Prakash Javadekar.

Chidambaram is quoting the all powerful NIA act which allows the Center to take over any case it sees fit. State governments are forced by the law to hand over all evidence and material from the investigation.

Home Minister is a lawyer himself and he seems to be acting against his own views and stated position.

There is a secret WikiLeaks cable quoting him doubting the constitutional limits of the NIA's powers. Home Minister says that he was coming perilously close to crossing constitutional limits as the concept of a Federal crime does not exist in India.

“The NIA law would be challenged in court because it ascribes certain investigating powers to the NIA which may be seen to conflict with responsibility exclusively with the states" he added.

It seems the home minister has forgotten his own words or is he putting aside his own objections so that the UPA government, cornered with scams and privilige motions, can open a fresh front against the opposition.