Activists of the pro CPI(M) SFI and DYFI waved black flags, raised slogans and attempted to stop the car of Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa at Pazhayangadi here on Tuesday with the BJP alleging it was a "planned" attack by "Communist goons".
The activists were protesting the "illegal" detention of Kerala journalists in Mangaluru last week while covering the death of two people in police firing during the agitations over the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act.
"The activists surrounded the CM's car, raised slogans and tried to stop the vehicle. Some of them came in front of the vehicle, but were removed by police. No damage was done to the vehicle," Kannur Superintendent of Police Prateesh Kumar Sinha, told PTI.
The pro-Congress Kerala Students Union (KSU) and the Youth Congress workers also waved black flags at the visiting CM's convoy in Kannur separately this morning, police said.
Over 20 activists of the Students Federation of India (SFI), Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) and the Youth Congress have been taken into custody in connection with the incidents, they said.
Yediyurappa was on his way to Madayikavu temple when the incident occurred.
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On Monday too, he had faced an attempted black flag protest by Youth Congress activists in Thiruvananthapuram.
The senior BJP leader, on a personal visit to temples and religious places in Kerala, termed the attempt to block his car as a "conspiracy by vested interests" and a 'heinous' act and said it was wrong to blame all Keralites for it.
"The incident during my visit to Kerala temple is a conspiracy by vested interests. I'm someone who has immense devotion for God from the beginning. This is my personal visit. Blaming all Keralites for the heinous act of a few is wrong. Let such an incident in the god's own country not lower the dignity of Kerala," Yediyurappa tweeted.
BJP accused the CPI(M)-led LDF government of failure to provide adequate security cover to the visiting Chief Minister and said the incident was planned.
Senior BJP leader Shobha Karandlaje, MP, alleged that "the convoy" of Yediyurappa was attacked by "Communist goons" and lashed out at Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan for not providing adequate security.
Terming it as "a planned action," the Lok Sabha member alleged that the police helped the DYFI people to come to the middle of the road when Yediyurappa's convoy reached Kannur.
"Without their (police) permission, they (DYFI workers) could not have come," she told Janam TV in Kannur.
Karandlaje also took to twitter to attack the Left Democratic Front government over the issue.
"Kerala fails again! CM @BSYBJP's convoy was attacked by the communist goons in Kannur today.
"Kerala CM @vijayanpinarayi has made it a state of goons, he failed again to provide adequate security to @CMofKarnataka. This shows TOLERANCE level of preachers of the tolerance," she tweeted.
Kerala BJP General Secretary B Gopalakrishnan in a statement alleged "the attack" on Yediyurappa's convoy was planned and the state government had a "role in it", adding Vijayan would have to take helicopters to visit the BJP ruled states, including Karnataka.
On Monday, police took into custody 20 Youth Congress workers for attempting to wave black flags at the chief minister at the Thiruvananthapuram airport over the detention of Kerala journalists in Mangaluru.
Eight journalists and camera crew of Kerala-based TV channels were later let off.
Their detention for around seven hours had triggered protests by journalists in Kerala and Vijayan had taken up the matter with Yediyurappa, who then said police had questioned some people in the backdrop of the violence in Mangaluru and on coming to know they were reporters, escorted them till the Kerala border.
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