Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala BJP has called for a statewide, dawn-to-dusk hartal on Friday. The hartal has been called in protest of the suicide of an Ayyappa devotee near the BJP protest venue in Thiruvananthauram on Thursday.

An Ayyappa devotee, had attempted self-immolation near the protest venue of the BJP in front of the Secretariat on Thursday morning and later succumbed to the injuries in the afternoon. The man identified as Venugopalan Nair (55), was a native of Muttada.

Chanting 'swamiye saranam Ayyappa' mantra, Nair had set himself ablaze after pouring petrol over his body and tried to run to the makeshift tent where senior BJP leader CK Padmanabhan has been staging indefinite fast demanding the lifting of prohibitory orders at Sabarimala hill shrine.

BJP alleges that he was a Ayyappa devotee and the CM is responsible for his death.