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Chandrababu calls for a halt to Azhar controversy

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu called for a halt to the controversy over former Indian cricket skipper Mohammed Azharuddin attending the Iftar party hosted by him last Friday.

Reacting to the objections raised by state Bharatiya Janata Party leaders to the presence of Azharuddin at his Iftar party at the Quli Qutub Shah stadium in the Old City, the chief minister felt that 'some people are trying to raise unwanted issues and blowing them out of proportion'.

In an informal chat with newspersons at the Telugu Desam Party office on Sunday, Naidu clarified that he had not invited Azharuddin, who has been banned from playing for life, to the official Iftar dinner hosted by him.

"I did not invite him. But one cannot avoid greeting guests on such an occasion. You cannot push aside or send back people who come to a party hosted by you. I could not have sent him back saying he was unwanted," he observed.

The chief minister said that it was a coincidence he came across face to face with Azharuddin at the Iftar party hosted by Majlis-e-Ittehaadul Muslimeen chief and Hyderabad MP Sultan Salahuddin Owaisi last Wednesday.

"Azharuddin came to me there and I just responded to his greeting," he recalled and pointed out that as an elected representative, he has to attend functions where all sorts of people could be present.

He made it clear that the state government was keeping off Azharuddin. "The state government will always encourage people who bring laurels to the state. In the event of such personalities facing any controversy, they must face it on their own. They have to pay the price for any misdeeds committed by them," he said.

Asked whether the state government would take back the residential plot given to Azharuddin at Banjara Hills in Hyderabad, Chandrababu Naidu evaded a direct reply, saying it was the previous Congress government that had made the allotment.

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