BJP-SDPI rift kills Kerala’s peace

BJP leader hacked to death in Alappuzha soon after SDPI secy’s murder.

Alappuzha/Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala’s coastal district of Alappuzha was rocked by back-toback killings of two party leaders, the first belonging to SDPI and the second to BJP, leading to clamping of prohibitory orders by police on Sunday.

Following the killing of an SDPI state secretary, a BJP leader was hacked to death within 12 hours and prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPC were imposed in Alappuzha district. Subsequently, police took into custody around 50 people, including workers of BJP, RSS and SDPI, IG Harshita Attaluri told reporters.

She said there has been no lapse on the part of the police which had swung into action right after the assault on the SDPI leader and added that “we cannot give protection to every house”.

Earlier in the day, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan as well as leaders of other political parties in the state had condemned the killings. Subsequently, State Police Chief (SPC) Anil Kant, told the media that senior police officers were camping in the district and additional forces have been deployed there.

BJP MP and Union Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan and the party’s Kerala president K Surendran blamed SDPI for the death of its OBC Morcha state secretary Ranjeet Sreenivas. The SDPI’s Kerala president meanwhile, issued a statement refuting allegations that it was behind the killing of the BJP leader.

SDPI state secretary Shan was on his way home when a car rammed into his bike and as he fell down, the assailants inflicted around 40 injuries on him leading to his death, police said. Hours later, BJP’s OBC Morcha state secretary Sreenivas was hacked to death by some assailants who barged into his house Sunday morning. -(PTI)