'No role in MIM leaders' arrest'

Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy Wednesday said the government has nothing to do with the arrest of MIM leaders -- Akbaruddin and Asaduddin Owaisi.

The chief minister said law would take its own course if anybody violates law or try to provoke and divide people.

He was addressing a public meeting at Narsapur in Medak district, not far from Sangareddy town in the same district where Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi was Monday sent to jail in a seven-year-old case of rioting and manhandling an official.

"He appeared in the court in the case booked in 2005 and he was sent to jail by the court. In what way is the government concerned with this," asked Kiran Kumar Reddy while reacting to MIM's allegations that he had resorted to witch-hunting.

The Hyderabad MP was jailed close on the heels of the arrest of his younger brother and legislator Akbaruddin Owaisi in a hate speech case. The MIM, which has seven members in the Andhra Pradesh assembly, withdrew support to the Congress government in November last year.

Stating that the government is committed to maintain communal harmony in Hyderabad and in the entire state, the chief minister warned that the government would deal firmly with those trying to drive a wedge between people.

"They should stop provoking innocent people and work within the legal and constitutional framework," he added.