THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The BJP is working out counter-strategies to prevent the CPM from using the death of its councillor K Anil Kumar to dent its urban vote base in Thiruvananthapuram.
Party insiders said there are concerns that the CPM might project allegations of financial irregularities against Anil Kumar to weaken BJP’s growing influence in the corporation, where it currently holds 35 of 100 seats.
In response, sources said that the BJP is planning a series of campaigns and protests aimed at keeping the focus on its charge that ‘CPM-police pressure’ pushed the councillor to suicide.
“This is an attempt to politicise a tragedy. The CPM is trying to tarnish our party, but people know the truth. We will intensify campaigns to ensure justice for Anil Kumar and expose the CPM-police nexus,” a senior BJP leader said.
On the very day of Anil’s death, September 20, the party convened a meeting at night and made its stand clear. In a late-night press briefing, Thiruvananthapuram City district president Karamana Jayan alleged that police had threatened Anil over a cooperative bank issue and demanded `5 lakh, forcing him into distress. Since then, the BJP has moved to consolidate its position by highlighting corruption under the LDF-led corporation and framing the CPM as the villain in the episode.
Though BJP state president Rajeev Chandrasekhar’s angry reaction during a media briefing on September 21 briefly drew criticism, the party has sought to clarify that the suicide note contained no mention of BJP. Senior leader V Muraleedharan also reiterated this during a protest march the next day, accusing the CPM of fabricating stories to damage the party’s image.
Behind the scenes, BJP leaders said the strategy is two-fold: defend the party from allegations and step up campaigns exposing corruption in the LDF-led corporation.
“We are determined to prevent the CPM from creating fissures in our vote bank. We are not like Congress — when their Aryanad panchayat member allegedly took her life over financial issues, they failed to give strong messages to CPM even though it was made into a big issue. Our councillor faced the same kind of pressure, but unlike Congress, we will fight until our party worker gets justice,” another BJP leader said.
Meanwhile, BJP’s ground-level workers said the party must make Anil’s death one of the major election issues.
“His death itself will be one of the issues to expose the real face of the CPM. We will highlight this before the people, and CPM will face a huge setback in the coming polls. The incident has deeply hurt our workers, and we will not let it drop until Anil gets justice,” a BJP worker said.