Amaravati, Apr 12 (IANS): Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister K. Naryana Swamy on Saturday night apologised for the comments he made earlier in the day about the Tablighi Jamaat.

The YSR Congress Party leader tweeted that if some words used by him while appealing to all who had visited Delhi to undergo Covid-19 tests had hurt anybody, he apologised for the same. "I am withdrawing those remarks forthwith," he said.

Referring to some videos, which were subsequently found to be fake, Narayana Swamy had allegedly made certain remarks about the food habits of Tablighi members, drawing strong condemnation from various quarters.

He stated that Andhra Pradesh would not have more than 26 coronavirus positive cases had the Markaz event participants not brought it to the state.

Narayana Swamy's comments came barely a week after Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy appealed to the people not to view the coronavirus cases from a religious angle.

Jagan Reddy had said the disease could have spread from events of others like Ravi Shankar, Jaggi Vasudev, Mata Amritananda, Paul Dinakaran or John Wesley.

"We should not discriminate people as it happened that way and was not premeditated. We have to put up a united fight like Indians, giving no room to any caste or religion," Jagan had said.