Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Tuesday said that Union Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy has become a joke by stating that Hyderabad is a "safe zone for terrorists".
"People are laughing at him. He has become a joke," Rao said at a news conference on Tuesday night.
KCR, as Rao is popularly known, said there was not a single incident of communal violence in Telangana during last five years and the Union Home Ministry also went on record to state that the crime rate in the state had come down.
"There was no terrorist attack. We are an active government. This is a neat and clean state. In fact there is no other state like this in India," he said.
Kishan Reddy, who is a member of Parliament from Secunderabad, had said after taking oath as the Minister of State on May 30 that Hyderabad had become safe zone for terrorists as any terror incident in the country would have a link to the city.
The comment did not go down well with many people, including Hyderabad MP and All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen President Asaduddin Owaisi.
In his response to Kishan Reddy's comments, Owaisi said that there was no proof of it and the statement reflected the hatred for Telangana and Hyderabad that the BJP leader had.
Meanwhile, KCR also told reporters on Tuesday that Telangana and Andhra Pradesh governments had agreed to hold talks to solve all outstanding issues with regard to distribution of waters of Godavari and Krishna rivers.
KCR said a delegation of top irrigation officials of Andhra will visit Hyderabad on June 27 or 28 for first round of talks.
IANS inputs