Does Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit think parliament terrorist attack convict Afzal Guru is innocent? The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday wondered Dikshit might be thinking so, since she is sitting over his mercy petition. If so, she should be frank in admitting that or let the nation know if some other pressure is preventing her government's opinion in the matter for the past four years, party spokesman Rajiv Pratap Rudy said.

He also sought a clear reply from the prime minister instead of the home ministry and Delhi government throwing the ball at each other to provide relief to Afzal. He said such protection to terrorists is part of the "Congress politics of appeasement of Muslims".

Rudy also blasted Dikshit for feigning ignorance of the home ministry communication of April 26 to her government to explain what it is doing about Afzal's mercy petition. Dikshit told reporters earlier in the day that she has not received any such letter, adding that maybe the home department got it. She happens to be in charge of the home department, Rudy said.

Meanwhile, law minister M Veerappa Moily sought to stress that "Afzal is 27th in the rank" of death convicts pleading commutation of the punishment and that "things have to be done according to the system.”