Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh on Thursday blamed Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Azam Khan for September's Muzaffarnagar riots, and called the violence a "reaction".
Kalyan Singh, chief minister when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was in power in the state during the Babri Mosque demolition in 1992, attacked the SP government for not being able to control the riots.
"There is a reaction to every action. Only dead bodies don't react," Kalyan Singh said from the dais of BJP's 'Vijay Shankhnaad' rally in Agra on Thursday, later addressed by BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.
"If Azam Khan had not shielded murderers, this would not have happened," he said.
Taking a dig at the SP government, he said the state has four-and-a-half chief ministers.
"Here, Mulayam Singh is one chief minister, Azam Khan is another, Shivpal Yadav is the third, and Ramgopal Yadav the fourth. Akhilesh Yadav is also half a chief minister. How can the state progress when it has four-and-a-half chief ministers," he asked.
Kalyan Singh is at present an independent MP from Etah in Uttar Pradesh.
Known as a Hindutva hardliner, he resigned from the BJP in 2009 and campaigned for the SP.
He later formed the Jan Kranti Party (Rashtrawadi) in January 2010 which merged with BJP in January 2013. He himself has not yet joined BJP formally, but has been pitching for Modi as prime ministerial candidate.
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