ABVP protests against Kerala CM’s visit to Hyderabad

Hyderabad, March 19 (IANS) The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarathi Parishad (ABVP) workers staged a protest against visiting Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan here on Sunday, blaming him for the killing of RSS workers in Kerala.

Raising slogans of "Vijayan go back" they tried to disrupt a meeting which was being addressed by the Kerala Chief Minister. Police, however, arrested the protesters including women.

Mild tension prevailed outside RTC Kalabhavan where the CPI-M leader was addressing a meeting of Malayalis living here.

Holding ABVP flags, a group of protesters tried to rush towards the meeting venue.

Police stopped the protesters, bodily lifted them into waiting police vehicles and shifted to a police station.

Vijayan is in Hyderabad on a two-day visit to attend various programmes. He will address a public meeting of CPI-M in Saroornagar on the city outskirts on Sunday evening.

Police have made tight security arrangements for his visit in view of threats from right-wing organisations.

A BJP legislator in Hyderabad, Raja Singh, has threatened to obstruct the public meeting.

"If the Kerala CM, who is a murderer of Hindus, is invited to the event, I will not allow it to happen. I will go to any extent to stop the meeting," said Raja Singh, a member of Telangana assembly.

He had demanded of the Telangana government not to grant permission to Vijayan to visit Hyderabad.

An RSS leader from Madhya Pradesh had earlier this month announced a Rs 1-crore reward for anyone who brings the head of Kerala Chief Minister.

Several activists of the RSS and Kerala's ruling CPI-M were killed in the political violence in the southern state.

Reacting to the threat, Vijayan had said that he could not stop work due to such threats. "The RSS has taken the heads of many people. I can't stop working and travelling due to this. Let them issue many more threats... I don't care," he had said.