Crude bomb hurled at BJP state office in Kerala capital

The miscreants hurled a country bomb at BJP office in Thiruvananthapuram.
BJP alleged that the CPM was trying to spread Kannur model violence across the state.
Police have recovered CCTV footage of a suspect.

Even as the relations between the Communist Party of India-Marxist and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) remain tense in Kerala after the murder of an RSS worker in Kannur last week, the state committee office of the saffron party at Thiruvananthapuram came under country bomb attack in the wee hours of Wednesday. Unknown miscreants threw a crude bomb at the newly built office of the BJP at Kunnukuzhy in the state capital and sped past on a motorbike.

Glass panes of the main entrance door of the office building were damaged in the blast that occurred at around 12.30 a.m on Wednesday. The attack took place just a few minutes after BJP state president Kummanam Rajasekharan left the office. There were a few BJP workers in the office at the time of the attack but none was injured in the blast.

Strongly condemning the attack, BJP leaders alleged that the CPM was behind the bomb blast. The attack revealed the intolerance of the Left in the state, said Rajashekharan. The CPM is trying to spread Kannur model violence across the state. The culprits should be brought before the law immediately, the BJP demanded.

The BJP took out a march to state Secretariat on Wednesday to protest the bomb attack. BJP has called for the observance of 'black day' in the state on Thursday. To prevent untoward incidents, the security for AKG Center in Thiruvananthapuram, the headquarters of CPM in the state, has been beefed up.

The police have retrieved footage from a surveillance camera that showed the suspected culprits. Senior police officials and the Bomb Squad inspected the area.

The attack on the BJP office follows the murder of an RSS worker at Kannur on Saturday. The murder took place within hours after a CPM activist was injured in a crude bomb attack in the politically sensitive district.

Kannur has been witnessing violent clashes between the BJP and the CPM after the Left government came to power in Kerala in May this year. The spurt of violence in the district claimed the lives of two party workers each from both sides since in less than four months.

Meanwhile, the violence between the CPM and the BJP is showing signs of spreading in to Kasargod, the neighbouring district of Kannur.