Now, it's Venkaiah's turn to visit blast site

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader M. Venkaiah Naidu visited the bomb blast sites here on Saturday.

Naidu earlier on Friday took on Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde over the Hyderabad blasts in Parliament. Naidu wanted a discussion on the issue in Parliament, a demand that was supported by the opposition benches.

Naidu yesterday said that the attacks by the militants could not have been possible without some internal help and logistical support.

"What happened in Hyderabad is not an isolated incident, its part of series of incidents that's happening in various parts of the country particularly in Hyderabad," Naidu told media outside the Parliament.

"Hyderabad has become the heart bed of terrorists and there are people who are encouraging terrorism and we are giving shelter to them and we are also providing local, logistical support to terrorists, otherwise, this sort of incident would not have happened," Naidu added.

Naidu's visit comes a day after BJP President Rajnath Singh visited the blast sites and met those injured.

Singh yesterday asked India to scale down its diplomatic ties with Pakistan "for the time being" in the wake of the twin bomb blasts at Dilsukhnagar in Hyderabad.

"All these terrorist activities are Pakistan-sponsored and ISI-sponsored. In such a scenario, there is no need to continue Confidence Building measures (CBM) with Pakistan. I want to suggest to the government that for time being the CBM process should be suspended," he told media in Hyderabad.

The death toll in the twin blasts in the city mounted to 16 on Friday with two more persons succumbing to their injuries in a hospital. As many as 119 people sustained injuries in the twin blasts.

-ANI