THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The BJP leaders have condemned the attack against their new state committee office at Kunnukuzhy here on Tuesday midnight. Nirmala Sitharaman, Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, said in New Delhi that the attack was targeted against BJP state president Kumm-anam Rajasekharan.
She alleged that the CPM leadership was unleashing violence on BJP workers and lamented that the LDF government was not taking action against the hooligans. “It is the CPM workers who are ruling the police stations. CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury should intervene and bring peace to the region,” she said.
Nemom MLA O. Rajagopal conveyed his concern to Governor P. Sathasivam on the attack when he attended the Onam celebrations at Raj Bhavan. Mr Rajagopal said that he had apprised the Governor of the political murders happening across the state.
Former BJP state president P.K. Krishnadas said they would retaliate if the CPM men unleashed violence thinking that the government and police were under their control. The police are yet to identify the culprit who had hurled crude country bombs at the office though CCTV visuals have been retrieved from a camera installed at the next door home.
The glass panes of the main entrance door were damaged in the incident. The clippings show a person on a bike hurling bomb at the office. Forensic experts reached the office and examined the clippings. The Museum police collected the remains of the explosives used for the blast.
When the incident occurred, there were a few BJP workers on the top floor of the office. Mr Kummanam Rajasekharan was at the office almost an hour before the crude bomb was hurled.
Bombs, swords won’t destroy us, says BJP state president
BJP state president Kummanam Rajasekharan has said that the CPM was abetting violence across the state. Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday in the wake of the attack on the BJP state committee office in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday night, he said that it was the latest in the series of violence.
“It is for the first time the state committee office of a party is being attacked in the state. The party state unit has already discussed with national president Amit Shah and Governor P. Sathasivam on the unchecked violence unleashed by the CPM on other political parties,” he said.
“The CPM cannot destroy the BJP with bombs and swords. The restraint maintained by the BJP should not be mistaken for cowardice. Pushed to the wall, the BJP may be forced to act in self defence,” he said.
“Violence in the state can be stopped if Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan decide. Though we were ready for conciliatory talks, the CPM leadership torpedoed the move,” he alleged.
“Pinarayi Vijayan is the only chief minister who has refused to take the initiative for peace in the state,” Mr Kummanam said. “Though the state witnessed widespread violence recently, Pinarayi did not even condemn it,” he added. The BJP district committee also organised a protest march in the town on Wednesday evening.
CPM denies role, calls for probe
CPM district secretary Anavoor Nagappan has denied any role in the crude bomb attack on the BJP state office in Kunnukuzhy. In a statement here, Nagappan said the CPM was not connected in any way with the incident that had taken place on Tuesday night. He said the attack on the BJP office was highly condemnable.
The CPM leader demanded the immediate arrest of anti social elements responsible for the incident. He said the incident should be investigated by a high level team of senior officers so that the truth could be brought out.
The CPM district secretary said that that the allegations being levelled by BJP leaders against his party were with ulterior motive . The CPM leaders said that the false charges being raised by the BJP would be rejected by people with the contempt it deserved.
