New Delhi: Claiming a link between the Gujarat riots and the twin Mumbai blasts, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Chagan Bhujbal on August 26 said outfits connected to Pak-based terrorist groups, along with locals, were involved in it.

"Al Hadeez is connected to Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). When LeT was banned in Pakistan, in this name these people started acting," he said in an interview to NDTV.

Asked if they were working with local groups, he said "of course. Because people who know places in Mumbai, working of taxis...".

To a question why such blasts were occurring routinely, he said it started some time after the Gujarat incidents and that a number of blasts had taken place in mostly Gujarati populated areas.

Bhujbal said there was no doubt there was a link between the blasts and the Gujarat riots.

About suggestions that Bhujbal, who is also the Home Minister, should resign, he said "I am not a coward to run away from the battlefield. I'll fight. I am a man who fights against crisis."

He assured that his government would get to the culprits and arrest them.

PTI