New Delhi/Thiruvananthapuram: People across India reacted with shock and dismay over Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan's remark that even a "dog" would not visit the house of commando Sandeep Unnikrishnan, who was killed fighting terrorists in Mumbai, with some demanding the Marxist leader's resignation.
Even as Achuthanandan refused to apologise, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) general secretary Prakash Karat described the remark by the chief minister as "regrettable" - a view that was echoed by several Communist politicians.
"Certain remarks made by Achuthanandan are regrettable," Karat said in a brief statement issued in Rajasthan where he is campaigning for assembly elections due tomorrow.
"I have spoken to him (chief minister) over telephone from Rajasthan. He has assured that he had no other intention but to go to the home of Unnikrishnan, who was brutally killed by terrorists, to pay homage and to condole with the family."
A day after Unnikrishnan's grieving father chased away Achuthanandan from his Bangalore house, the chief minister told a TV channel in Malayalam: "Is there any rule that both the Karnataka and Kerala chief ministers should go together to his home? If not for Sandeep's house, not even a dog would have gone there."
Unnikrishnan, from the elite National Security Guard (NSG), was killed in fierce gun battles with terrorists who seized the Taj hotel in Mumbai in a terror drama that left 183 people dead. A livid Railway Minister Lalu Prasad said the CPI-M should "pack off" the chief minister.
