Thiruvananthapuram, July 09: Kerala Chief Minister A K Antony today hit out at the BJP saying the party seemed to have a "special agenda" to "complicate" the Marad issue. Lashing out at the saffron party on the issue for the first time, he said "though we have got good Centre-State relations, the BJP as a party has no interest in finding a solution to the problem. Instead they want to complicate the issue."
The BJP and its allies had "refused" to co-operate with the state government's peace initiatives and efforts to bring back Muslim families who had deserted the area, by persisting on their demand for a CBI probe into the incident, he told reporters at the airport on his return from the Congress party's three-day brainstorming session at Shimla.
On VHP general secretary Praveen Togadia's statement that rehabilitation of Muslim families would not be allowed at Marad through force, he said "nobody need to set a deadline for rehabilitation in Marad".
Rehabilitation could not be carried out in Marad by using force, the Chief Minister said.
However, leaders of minority communities should understand the complaint from the majority community that the former was "claiming maximum benefits through bargaining with their organised force", he said.
Nine people were killed and over 20 injured in communal violence at Marad on May 2.
Bureau Report