Kerala CM Oommen Chandy suspects BJP was behind keeping him out of PM Narendra Modi's function

NEW DELHI: Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has said that keeping him out of a function to unveil a statute of a late chief minister R Sankar by Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday was an "insult" to the state and suspected that BJP was behind it.

"If you go by the elimination process, the suspicion leads you there (to the BJP)," he told 'The Week', according to a release issued by the news magazine.

"Vellapally Natesan ( SNDP leader) called me up and told me that it was difficult for him to let me attend the function as he was under tremendous pressure. I am absolutely certain that Natesan is not behind this," Chandy said.

Natesan is the General Secretary of the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam, which organised the event in Kollam yesterday, and has floated a new party Bharat Dharma Jana Sena (BDJS), which is likely to align with BJP in the next year's Assembly elections in Kerala.

"Although I am extremely sad, the grief isn't personal. To keep the CM out of such a function is an insult to the state," the chief minister said.

Asked about Home Minister Rajnath Singh's statement in Parliament that the chief minister's office had sent a letter saying he was giving the function a miss, Chandy replied that in the the afternoon of December 12, his office issued a press release about him not attending the function which explained in detail that he was skipping it because those who had invited him themselves asked him not to come.