Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Monday that there were groups in the state that trained people to commit murder.
The chief minister made the revelation in the state assembly, adding there were also political parties led by such groups.
Based on that logic, the chief minister argued, it was therefore not possible to control murders by convening a meeting of political parties.
“Instead, the option is to take stringent action against the perpetrators,” the chief minister said.
His remarks came in response to questions in the state assembly over political conflicts and murders in the state, particularly in the northern districts.
“Kerala is placed in the 17th position in India in political killings. This year, 334 murders have been reported”, Vijayan said.
The chief minister said the government did not have a policy of giving any special protection to the cadres of the party in power, and that its policy was to take action against culprits irrespective of their political affiliations.
Earlier this month, the chief minister had downplayed a demand by the Bharatiya Janata Party to conduct an investigation by an independent agency into the “increasing” political killings in Kannur district.
A delegation of the BJP, led by the party’s national general secretary Bhupendra Yadav had called on the Kerala governor, P. Sathasivam to apprise him of the situation in Kannur. The delegation alleged that there was a spurt in violence by Left volunteers against BJP cadres.
