Manmohan assures maximum support to AP govt, BJP calls visit a 'non event'

Hyderabad: Three days after two powerful bombs killed 16 people and injured 117, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday visited the sites in Hyderabad. The PM, who was accompanied by his wife Gursharan Kaur, Andhra Pradesh Governor ESL Narasimhan and Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, said that the Centre would extend maximum support to the state government.

Singh also visited the injured at the hospital and said that he prayed for their speedy recovery. He appealed to the people of Hyderabad to maintain calm.

The PM first stopped at the Anand Tiffin Centre in front of Konark Theatre. Senior police officials explained the sequence of events to the Prime Minister. He later visited the scene of the second blast, a few meters away. The PM flew into Hyderabad in an Indian Air Force aircraft.

The PM visited the blasts sites, accompanied his wife Gursharan Kaur, AP Governor ESL Narasimhan and CM N Kiran Kumar Reddy.

The BJP, however, was quick to attack the PM, calling his visit 'a non-event'. "The PM's visit to the blast site will not make any difference. It is a non event," said Balbir Punj.

Sixteen people were killed and 117 injured when two blasts ripped throw the crowded market area at Dilsukh Nagar. The two explosions took place near Venkatadri and Konark movie theatres. According to the police one bomb may have been placed on a cycle and the other was put inside a tiffin box.

With additional information from PTI

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