Kerala violence: BJP lodges complaint with Prez, says will give 'democratic response'

New Delhi: President Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday assured the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) delegation led by Union Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari, that stringent action will be taken in the case of deaths of saffron party workers in Kerala.   The delegation met the President at the Rashtrapati Bhawan here and lodged a formal protest with regard to the violence, which took place in Kerala on May 19-20 during the celebration of the Left Democratic Front's victory   "Ever since the polls began in Kerala, a lot of BJP and RSS workers have been continuously attacked. Suresh and Pramod, who were our party workers, were murdered and houses of more than 100 of our party workers have been attacked as well. We came here to meet the President to give him the details about the situation and how even the police is not cooperating," Gadkari told the media here.   Asserting that he was surprised by how the Congress in Kerala did not react to the violent incidents during polling, he added that this certainly was not good for the democracy as the 'fight of ideologies' must not get physical and that innocent lives must not be sacrificed.   "The BJP condemns the murders of our workers by the CPM and hopes that all parties, who believe in democracy oppose this. We will raise this matter in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha as well. We will give a democratic response and not resort to their standards," Gadkari said.   Earlier today, the BJP members staged a protest here against the killing of their colleague by the CPI (M) workers in Kerala last week and alleged that 'jungle raj' has begun in the state which voted for the Left Democratic Front (LDF).   "Jungle Raj has begun in Kerala. Many of our people have been killed by the CPI (M) workers. We are protesting against that," one of the BJP protestors told ANI.   The BJP workers, who were protesting outside the CPI (M) office in Gole Market, were later detained by the police.   BJP worker V. R. Pramod of Kodungalloor in Thrissur district of Kerala was allegedly attacked by CPI (M) workers during a victory procession following which he succumbed to his injuries.   The BJP and RSS workers took out celebratory processions across Kerala after O. Rajagopal won from the Nemom constituency, giving the saffron party its first seat ever in the state.   Several activists from both parties were also injured in the clashes.