BJP Chief Amit Shah Launches 14-Day <em>Padyatra</em> In Kerala Against CPI(M)'s 'Political Murders'

Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) chief Amit Shah on Friday announced a two-week 'padyatra', against the CPI(M) targeting his party's workers, in the state capital from tomorrow.

Addressing a rally in the CPI(M) bastion, also the home town of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Shah said Vijayan was responsible for the violence in the state. BJP workers were victims of "political murders", he added.

Shah is here to launch a fortnight-long march, called Jan Raksha Yatra, by the party in the state to protest alleged political violence by the Left party.  The Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, also the Hindutva face of the party, reaches Kannur tomorrow to participate in the yatra, reported NDTV.

He said his party would use democratic means to fight Left rule in the state.

"CPI(M) leader and Kerala Chief Minister Vijayan is directly responsible for all political murders in Kerala," he alleged.

Escalating the war of words between the left and RSS-BJP in Kerala, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar on Monday, in a strong rebuttal to chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan's statement against Sangh, said CPI(M) is behind turning Kannur into a minefield.

While addressing the media, the HRD minister said that "killing spree is the name of the game for CPI(M)" announcing a 14-day 'Padh Yatra' from October 3 to 17 in Kerala against CPI(M) attack on BJP. 

Vijayan had earlier lashed out at RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, saying that Keralites did not need any advice on nationalism from those who had turned their back towards the freedom struggle and served the colonial rulers.

As many as 120 BJP workers, 84 in Kannur alone, have been killed in the state since 2001. Fourteen people were killed in Kannur since the CPI(M) came to power last year, the BJP had said yesterday.

PTI