New Delhi, Nov. 30: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s fervent appeal for unity fell on deaf ears at an all-party meeting that was not attended by L.K. Advani today.

Most parties sent their senior leaders — Sonia Gandhi attended — but BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Advani and president Rajnath Singh were campaigning for the Rajasthan polls while Arun Jaitley was in Jammu.

BJP sources said Advani had spoken to the Prime Minister and expressed his desire to discuss the issue later. However, the sources added that as the BJP had made terrorism its main electoral plank, it did not want to completely identify itself with the government’s policies on the issue.

An initial consensus reached between the Prime Minister and Advani to travel together to Mumbai had also fallen through.

The BJP was represented at the meeting by V.K. Malhotra, Advani’s deputy in the Lok Sabha, and Jaswant Singh, the party’s leader in the Rajya Sabha.

The Prime Minister’s decision to set up a federal in- vestigation agency did not evoke support from all quarters. While the BJP leaders felt any agency without strong legal teeth would not prove effective, the CPM opposed the idea altogether.

But external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee announced after the meeting that the government would pursue the objective of a federal agency within a specific timeframe.

UPA ally Mulayam Singh Yadav accused the government of weakness and demanded visible action within 15 days. Some parties wanted strong action against Pakistan, including destruction of terror training camps.

The BJP and the Left demanded the removal of national security adviser M.K. Narayanan and Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh.

The Prime Minister made a specific proposal to establish four more National Security Guard (NSG) hubs in different parts of the country.

The need to create new stations for the NSG was felt after the delay in airlifting commandos from Delhi to Mumbai.