india

Updated: Jan 24, 2017 01:27 IST

The BJP will rush a team to Kannur, the north Kerala district where a saffron activist was murdered by alleged CPI(M) workers, as the contentious issue may figure in talks between chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi on Monday.

The north Kerala district, notorious for red-saffron clashes, had witnessed eight political murders in the last seven months, four in CM’s constituency Dharmadam. Vijayan had, in November meeting, urged the Left cadre to maintain peace.

Following this, RSS worker Santhosh (52) was hacked to death by an alleged gang of CPI(M) workers on Wednesday in Andalur near Dharmadam. Though the Left party had disowned the latest murder, all the arrested in connection with the killing are CPI(M) workers, prompting state BJP president Kummanam Rajasekharan to hold the CM accountable.

“With his own party ignoring the decision of the November 21 peace meeting, the CM can’t wash off his hands now. The state is now witnessing a state-sponsored violence and the CM can’t insist others to observe peace now,” Rajasekharan said.

He said a central team will visit the district in a couple of days and that the party was planning a day-long dharna in front of Kerala House in Jantar Mantar in Delhi on Tuesday.

Vijayan is in Delhi on a two-day trip to discuss the state’s ration issue and other pending projects.

The BJP has taken a serious note of recurring cycle of violence in Kannur. Union urban development minister M Venkaiah Naidu, who was in the state last week, asked the CPI(M) to fight his party ideologically not through violence. He had warned the party of serious consequences if it continued to unleash political violence on its rivals.

“After the CM called a peace meeting on November 21, four RSS-BJP workers were killed in the state. The CPI(M) has scuttled the peace brokered by its own CM,” Rajsekharan said, adding that the party would make it a national issue and observe a fast January 30, Martyrs Day, in all district headquarters of the state. He said eight stabbing incidents were reported in January and country-made bombs were thrown at the house of a BJP worker in Thalasserry on Sunday night.

Senior party leaders admitted that they were finding it difficult to keep the agitated cadre on a leash. The party is planning a series of campaigns to get political mileage. As part of this, many central leaders will be paraded in Kannur in the coming days.