Kerala violence: BJP delegation meets Prez

Amping up its offensive against the Left Front in Kerala, a Bharatiya Janata Party delegation on Sunday met President Pranab Mukherjee over attacks on party workers allegedly by Communist Party of India-Marxist supporters and also questioned the silence of the Congress, saying it is not good for democracy.

Union minister Nitin Gadkari told reporters after meeting the President that the Bharatiya Janata Party and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh workers were facing "atrocities" from the CPI-M, which led the alliance that won the assembly polls in the state.

He alleged that police was not taking appropriate action.

"We have given the President details of these cases, including photographs. Our worker Pramod was killed. Houses of more than 100 workers have been vandalised. Situation is not good. He has assured us that he will take appropriate action.

"Unfortunately, the UNited Progressive Alliance,the Congress are keeping quiet. This is not good for democracy. Democracy is a battle of ideas and parties cannot grow by taking law into their hands. We hope that those having faith in democracy will condemn this violence," he said.

Asked about CPI-M's charge that th eBJP was misleading, he said details of the incidents have been submitted to Mukherjee.

Besides Gadkari, the delegation included Union ministers J P Nadda, Nirmala Sitharaman and Rajiv Pratap Rudy, MPs Meenakshi Lekhi and M J Akbar and Kerala BJP President Kummanam Rajasekharan.

Attacking the Left Front, BJP chief Amit Shah had on Saturday accused it of "violating" the people's mandate as his party said it will not sit quiet and fight on the streets if violence continues.

The Left Front has instead attacked the BJP and the RSS for targeting its workers and accused the party of misleading the people.

Image: BJP delegation led by Union Minister Nitin Gadkari. Photograph: ANI-News/Twitter