BJP-RSS clash in Kerala: Arun Jaitley visits state capital to take stock of situation

The recent attacks on RSS-BJP activists in the southern state of Kerala allegedly by the members of the CPM has created a lot of tension between the two outfits.  

Now, this political slugfest seems to be headed for an even hotter episode, going to a higher level as the BJP has rushed senior party leader and finance minister Arun Jaitley on a short notice visit to the state capital Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday.

Attacks and accusations notwithstanding, Jaitley’s visit is being widely viewed as the Centre's move to test the political waters of Kerala especially when the issue of violent clashes involving CPM and RSS-BJP workers is still hot. Also, the finance minister’s presence in Kerala might boost the morale of the party's ranks.

"BJP wants to show that it means business. CPM should not think that the death of BJP-RSS workers would have no impact. May be for the first time, CPM would be forced to pay the price for all the political violence it had indulged in the past. Even as it would cooperate with the call for peace, BJP central leadership would have no qualms in using political killings to disgrace CPM at the national level," said sources close to BJP's state leaders.

BJP has upped its ante against chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who is also a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).

BJP’s Kerala leadership has not been in the good books of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah. It has been constantly asking the Centre to mediate and take some decisive steps against the Pinarayi Vijayan government. 

In fact, state party leaders had recently launched a scathing attack on Governor P Sathasivam too after he handed over a memorandum, submitted by the BJP leaders in connection with the political violence, to Vijayan.

Arun Jaitley is scheduled to reach Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday morning after which he will visit the house of RSS leader Rajesh, who was allegedly killed by CPM members last month. He would visit the house of another RSS leader who suffered serious injuries in another alleged attack by the CPM. 

He is also likely to address the family members of RSS-BJP workers who were allegedly attacked by CPM members.

On Friday, CPM's politburo made an attempt to convey the message that the attacks were not one sided as claimed by the BJP. More than a dozen CPM workers had lost their lives and hundreds of them were injured in the BJP-RSS attack in the recent past, the party had said.

Also read: RSS worker's killing: 7 arrested, Kerala Governor Sathasivam summons CM, DGP

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