All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen President Asaduddin Owaisi on Saturday lashed out at Union Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy after he called Hyderabad a “safe zone for terror” ANI reported. Owaisi represents the Hyderabad seat in the Lok Sabha.

“I would like to ask him that in last five years how many times have the National Investigation Agency, the Intelligence Bureau, and the Research and Analysis Wing given in writing that Hyderabad is a safe zone for terror?” Owaisi asked. “It is unfortunate the he is saying such things.”

The parliamentarian said such statements do not suit a minister but were expected from Reddy. “Wherever they see Muslims, they take them for terrorists,” Owaisi said. “We cannot cure them.”

Owaisi pointed out that while the minister was speaking negatively about Hyderabad, big companies were setting up offices in the city, PTI reported. “Why do they have this enmity towards Telangana and Hyderabad?” he asked. “Don’t they like [to see] Hyderabad grow?”

Reddy made the comments on Friday in an interview to Deccan Chronicle, hours before taking oath at Rashtrapati Bhavan. “Wherever in the county a terrorist incident happens, its roots are in Hyderabad,” he alleged.

The minister also claimed that people from Myanmar and Bangladesh were illegally living in Hyderabad’s Old City area, and said the Union home ministry will take action on this.

The minister stood by his comments on Saturday despite Owaisi’s criticism. “There are places in the country where terror activities are on a rise,” Reddy said. “If an incident takes place in Bengaluru or Bhopal, its roots are traced to Hyderabad. The state police, NIA have arrested terrorists in Hyderabad every two or three months. I did not say anything wrong.”