The two political murders at Alappuzha district in Kerala have put the Left-front government on the defensive, with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who also has the Home portfolio, coming under criticism for allegedly backing communal outfits and also over lapses of the police.
The police could so far nab only two of around 10 persons involved in the murder of an SDPI leader, while no arrest has been made in the murder of a BJP leader till Monday evening.
Amid allegations of a police intelligence failure in curbing the second murder, additional DGP (law and order) Vijay Sakhare said that the police were clueless of any plan to murder the BJP leader — that took place early Sunday — in retaliation to the SDPI leader's murder on Saturday night.
SDPI state secretary KS Shan and BJP-OBC Morcha's State Secretary Renjith Sreenivas were both hacked to death by large groups. The murders took place within a span of 10 hours on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday.
An all-party meeting convened by the district administration on Monday could not take place as BJP kept away, citing that the funeral of the BJP leader was scheduled for the day. The meeting was postponed to Tuesday.
A tense situation prevailed in the region on Monday and the funeral procession of the BJP leader was held under tight police vigil.
The additional DGP, who is supervising the police investigation, said that among the two held in connection with the SDPI leader's killing, one was the key accused. The other accused in both the cases were identified and efforts to nab them are under way. The car used by the gang in the murder of the SDPI leader was found abandoned on the outskirts of the district, the cop said.
The opposition Congress and BJP continued their attack against the chief minister for the police's failure in curbing political murders and allegedly backing communal outfits. The CPM state leadership countered it maintaining that two sections of communal outfits were trying to destroy the peace in Kerala, even as the BJP National President JP Nadda said that Kerala was turning into an unlawful state under Pinarayi Vijayan.
Kerala witnessed around 125 political murders over the past 15 years. During the term of the first Pinarayi Vijayan government from 2016 to 2021, nearly 30 political killings were reported in the state. In the last couple of months, five political murders have been reported.
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