The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday blamed intelligence failure for the murder of its State general secretary ‘Auditor’ V. Ramesh in Salem on Friday. BJP former State president and national executive member L. Ganesan said Ramesh was under threat and his car was also burnt a few months ago.
“The police should have provided adequate protection and saved his life…it is either failure of the intelligence machinery or negligence on the part of the State government. Ramesh was not involved in any real estate or financial deals and had no known enemies. It was a planned attack,” Mr. Ganesan told reporters here on Tuesday.
Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s condemnation and the formation of a Special Investigation Division to probe the case was a solace. But the party would not rest till the real culprits were brought to book.
After a lull, activities of the anti-national elements had begun with the attempt to blow up the convoy of BJP leader L.K. Advani near Madurai in October 2011.
Condemning the attack on a mosque in Coimbatore on Monday, he said that it was not the handiwork of BJP or Hindutva workers.
“I don’t approve it. It must be the mischief of some over-enthusiastic persons. We are law-aiding citizens and will not cause any damage to public property,” he said.
Displaying a list of communal murders since 1980s, he said the lives of at least 130 Hindutva workers were lost in the attacks.
A three-member team constituted by the BJP president Rajnath Singh would visit Salem, Vellore and Chennai on July 25 and 26 for an in-depth study of the ground realities.
“They will visit the place of attacks, meet the bereaved family and interact with party cadre at different levels. The team, including party spokespersons Prakash Javadekar and Nirmala Sitaraman, would submit its report to the party president.”
Mr. Ganesan said that senior party leader L.K. Advani would visit Salem on August 1 to take part in a ‘shraddanjali meeting’ and pay homage to Ramesh.
