CM sees Cong. hand in Guntur violence

By Our Special Correspondent

KUPPAM, JUNE 29. The Chief Minister, Mr. N. Chandrababu Naidu, today suspected the hand of an `organised gang' behind the recent bomb blasts in the State, and said that they were out to whip up communal tension at the behest of some political parties for their own narrow political agenda.

Addressing a crowded press conference at Gudipalle in his Kuppam constituency where he flew in earlier in the day on a two-day official visit, the Chief Minister made a significant statement when he said that prima facie evidence in the Guntur arson and looting in the aftermath of the bomb blast in a mosque indicated the hand of the Congress(I), and called it the meanest of mean acts. To reinforce his suspicion, Mr. Naidu cited the presence of some Congress(I) functionaries among those arrested by the police in connection with the Guntur holocaust which caused extensive damage to both public and private property worth about Rs. 2 crores.

He said going by the Congress(I)'s track record of kicking up communal violence to destabilise not only the opposition governments but also those of their own partymen, one cannot but give credence to the prima facie reports. He, however, hastened to add that he was not coming to any prejudiced conclusions since the investigation was in full swing. Stating that all the six incidents showed that they were being committed in a systematic manner, he said he also saw a pattern in them. He said after churches, mosques and burial grounds, he was suspecting that the next target of attack of the `organised gang' could possibly be the statues of national leaders and religious heads, and said that the police and the civil administration had been alerted to be vigilant.He did not agree with a reporter's query that the on- going violence was the repercussion of the TDP's alliance with the BJP. ``If it is so, why is it happening in Karnataka and Maharashtra?'' he asked. Mr. Naidu took the occasion to make a scathing attack at the Congress(I) for what he called its political intolerance, and said that he would consider even writing to the AICC president, Ms. Sonia Gandhi, to restrain her partymen from creating communal tension in the State.

He could hardly conceal his anguish at the barbaric manner in which the Congress(I) cadre in Guntur had wrecked the newly built bus station, which he developed into a model and showpiece of his Government. Obviously referring to the Congress(I)'s fiery agitation in the State against the power tariff hike, Mr. Naidu said that while he welcomed agitations in a democratic manner, he would call it despicable and diabolical to whip up communal tension, damage places of worship, burial grounds and so on to cause political instability for narrow political ends.

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