BJP Keralam president Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Friday said that the violent clashes inside the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation on Thursday stemmed entirely from the CPM’s political frustration.
Speaking to the media here, Chandrasekhar said the conflict was triggered after the alleged corruption of the former Corporation administration was exposed.
“The CPM resorted to orchestrated violence out of political frustration because the BJP-led administration has exposed corruption in the previous regime and because the public has rejected its governance,” he said.
He added that the violence inside the Corporation office on Thursday was a deliberate attempt by the CPM to divert public attention from the former Corporation administration’s governance failures, corruption scandals such as the CMRL-Exalogic payoff case, and the recently presented White Paper exposing the state’s financial decline.
After visiting injured Mayor V.V. Rajesh and BJP councillors at the Government Medical College Hospital, Chandrasekhar warned the CPM that the BJP would not allow elected representatives to be intimidated or prevented from discharging their constitutional duties.
A protest by CPM councillors at the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation office turned violent on Thursday. The clashes resulted in injuries to Mayor V.V. Rajesh, Deputy Mayor Asha Nath, and several other councillors.
While the CPM state leadership alleged that the Mayor and BJP councillors deliberately triggered the clashes to disrupt their protest, the BJP described the CPM’s actions as lawless acts of political desperation.
Meanwhile, the police on Friday registered separate cases against BJP councillors, including Mayor V.V. Rajesh, and CPM councillors in connection with the clash at the Thiruvananthapuram City Corporation office on Thursday.