Chennai, Feb 9 (IANS): The government should explain the "inordinate delay" in executing the death sentence against Afzal Guru, senior BJP leader M. Venkaiah Naidu said Saturday. He added that the hanging of the parliament attack convict though belated was welcome.

Queried whether the government was acting now - hanging Guru and Pakistani national Ajmal Amir Kasab - with an eye on the 2014 general elections, Naidu told IANS: "Perhaps the government is acting now against the death convicts as it suffers from policy paralysis."

"Whatever be the intention, the government has to explain the inordinate delay in the execution of Guru," he said.

According to Naidu, such delays in executing court orders will boost the morale of the terrorists.

Afzal Guru, who was hanged in Delhi's Tihar Jail at 8 a.m. Saturday, was given the death sentence by the Supreme Court in 2004. His hanging was scheduled for October 2006, but stayed after his wife filed a mercy petition.

Nine people were killed in the December 2001 parliament attack when five heavily-armed Pakistani terrorists drove into the complex and opened fire.

The terrorists were shot dead.