Congress warns against politicising terror strike

NEW DELHI/MUMBAI - The Congress Sunday warned against politicising and communalising the terror strike in Pune.

“This is the time to wake up. Anybody who tries to politicise or communalise the terror strike will be rejected (by the people),” Congress spokesman Manish Tewari told a television news channel.

The Congress’s reaction came in the wake of Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray saying that Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan’s “immature politics” was “responsible for the Pune terror attack”.

A bomb ripped through the German Bakery in Pune’s posh Koregaon Park area Saturday evening, killing nine people and injuring nearly 60, including several foreign nationals.

Reacting to the terror strike, Udhav said in a statement: “It is because of the sins of the chief minister that nine innocent persons have lost their lives in the attack.”

Uddhav, who issued a brief statement from Badlapur in Thane, alleged that in order to protect Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, a massive chunk of the security force had been withdrawn from sensitive locations and deployed on the roads last week.

“Instead, if that security had been appropriately deployed at the requisite places, then the terror attack could have been prevented,” Uddhav alleged.