RSS activist Anandan managed to sneak into Corporation Council hall when BJP and Left councillors clashed
A Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh activist, accused in connection with the attack on Thiruvananthapuram Mayor VK Prasanth, has been arrested after he surrendered before the police on Monday night.
Police sources claim Anandan who is not a councillor, managed to sneak into the Corporation Council hall when BJP and Left councillors clashed on Saturday.
Mr Prasanth, who was attacked allegedly by BJP councillors, continues to be hospitalised and under treatment.
Violence broke out at Thiruvananthapuram corporation on Saturday as BJP and LDF councillors clashed with each other, following which councillors from both the parties were admitted in two different hospitals. It was then that the Mayor was dragged and attacked.
CPM MP A Sampath has alleged that BJP and RSS men have been deliberately trying to stir violence in Kerala and especially in Thiruvananthapuram.
BJP state president Kummanam Rajasekharan denied the allegations and told NDTV, "There was some issue between BJP and LDF councillors but that doesn't mean they were trying to kill him. To take any non-bailable case against will only stir up further violence."
Incidents of political violence in Kerala have grabbed national headlines across the country in recent months with both left and the right-wing outfits accusing each other of increased hostilities.
Kerala has a long history of political violence. Police records of political murders between 2000 and 2017 impugn both the left and right-wing fronts. In the last 17 years, 85 CPM workers, 65 RSS or BJP workers, 11 workers of Congress and IUML each have been killed - mostly by their political rivals including CPM and RSS or BJP.