Shah to take part in 'padyatra' against political violence

BJP chief Amit Shah will take part in a 'padyatra' from Payyannur in Kannur district to Thiruvananthapuram from September 7 to highlight the political violence "unleashed" by the ruling CPI(M) in Kerala, the party said today.

Besides Shah, Union ministers, and chief ministers of BJP ruled states will be among those accompanying him.

Shah is likely to be in Kerala for three days and expected to join the yatra in at least three places, BJP national executive committee member V Muraleedharan told reporters after a meeting of state office bearers here today.

The yatra will conclude in the state capital on September 23 and will be led by BJP state unit chief Kummanam Rajasekharan.
 

An RSS worker, Choorakad Biju, had been hacked to death in May allegedly by CPI(M) activists at Payyanur town that has witnessed a series of clashes between CPI(M) and the RSS for the past one year.

Biju was an accused in a case relating to the killing of CPI(M) activist C V Dhanraj in 2016.

"With the LDF government completing one year in office, the violence against BJP/RSS workers is on the rise," Muraleedharan said, adding that CPI(M) activists were getting closer to the BJP as they were "disillusioned".

To check this flow of its cadres to BJP, the CPI(M) was unleashing violence against the BJP and RSS workers, he alleged.

The meeting is also understood to have discussed the Rs 6.5 crore Medical college scam which hit the party recently.

The scam and various other issues, including leakage of the party's internal enquiry committee report on the scam to the media, also came up for discussions, party sources said.

The BJP had taken disciplinary action against its state secretary V V Rajesh by keeping him out of the duties and organisational responsibilities.

The state unit had come under a cloud recently after an internal party commission report surfaced in the media, which stated that a party functionary had allegedly received Rs 5.6 crore for getting the Medical Council of India clearance to a private medical college in nearby Varkala.

Earlier, S Vinod, convener of the BJP co-operative cell, had been expelled as his name was mentioned in the report.

Meanwhile, the RSS' two-day meet began in Palakkad today in which its chief Mohan Bhagwat is participating.