Hyderabad:
BJP and VHP today strongly condemned the reported remarks of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy that minority community members were unfairly implicated in the Mecca Masjid blast, which was a handiwork of "Hindu militants".
"Your irresponsible statements during a programme in old city here yesterday have created confusion in the minds of people" who become victims of the blast in August 2007 and later communal violence," BJP leader Bandaru Dattatreya said in an open letter to Reddy. The former Union Minister said Reddy should be careful while talking on sensitive issues.
Addressing a public meeting, the CM had alleged "Hindu militants" were trying to create communal tension in the state capital.
He had also announced that the cases filed against Muslim youth after the masjid blast would be withdrawn and a compensation package given for their rehabilitation.
Dattatreya said the recent incident inside Cherlapalli Central Jail, where prison personnel were attacked by accused arrested in terror cases shows inefficiency of the state government and demanded a judicial inquiry into the incident.
Meanwhile, VHP State Organizing Secretary A Keshava Rao said Kiran Reddy should immediately withdraw his remarks and resign on moral grounds.
Terming the statements as "irresponsible", he said it was an attempt to cover up the "failures" of the Kiran Reddy Government.