Congress on Wednesday demanded the resignation of Union Home Minister Amit Shah over the alleged security lapses that led to the Red Fort blast, which claimed 12 lives.

Accusing the security establishment of "serious lapses," Congress general secretary K C Venugopal said Amit Shah should step down if he has "any sense of responsibility."

"When the Mumbai blast happened, when the UPA was in power, the then Home Minister resigned, taking moral responsibility for security. The opposition demanded his resignation, owing to moral responsibility for the security failure," he said.

Venugopal said the Union Home Minister always used to "lie" in Parliament, claiming that there were no riots or blasts in the country under him.

"Our Home Minister always says in Parliament, there are no riots, there are no blasts, lying every time. Now, in front of his eyes, very close to his office, this blast happened. The government should come out with a clear-cut enquiry and should reveal the real reason to the nation," he said.

Describing the balst as a failure of the BJP-led Union Government, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge demanded that the "perpetrators of the terrorist act" be given exemplary punishment so that it acts as a deterrent.