Speaking here on Saturday, Naidu had said that it would look “very pathetic” if the BJP decided to do to the CPI(M) in its own strongholds what it was doing to the BJP-RSS in Kannur. Naidu also stated that the BJP would need to consider “other means” if the CPI(M) did not stop attacking its workers in Kannur forthwith.

Referring to this, the CM claimed at a press conference that the BJP’s national leadership was in full know of the “attack” that took place at the CPI(M) headquarters in New Delhi on Sunday, and said it did not bode well for democracy.

At the same time, an angry Achuthanandan opposed an all-party meeting in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday to defuse the situation in Kannur, as suggested by CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat. He said the time was not conducive for such a meeting, and it would be initiated “at an appropriate time”.

Responding to a query, he said: “We don’t kill with the speed of the RSS. The death toll so far in Kannur is still six of ours to four of theirs.”

All across Kerala, the CPI(M) and its feeder outfits spent Sunday taking out angry processions against the New Delhi violence. Incendiary slogans were raised, demands made to close every RSS shakha in the state and speeches made of a “fiery” retaliation.

Apprehending attacks, the Kerala Police scampered to put all offices of the RSS, BJP and CPI(M) in the state under guard.

However, since the orgy of violence began last Wednesday in Kannur, leaving seven dead so far in attacks with country bombs and swords, there was a lull in the worst-hit Thalassery, Kathirur and Panur areas on Sunday.

Local RSS-BJP leaders met Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan in Thalassery to convey their stance, but ruled out sitting across the table with the CPI(M) for any peace effort.

Senior RSS leader Valsan Thillankeri said they would see how the CPI(M) responds to efforts to stop the killings before committing their own position. “We have had many peace talks and all-party meets earlier too, but the CPI(M) has invariably broken its word every time,” he alleged, even as he said the BJP-RSS was all for peace.

Kannur is one of Kerala’s traditional CPI(M) bastions, where the Communist party in the state was born and where most of the current and earlier crop of its state leaders come from — ironically, many senior RSS-BJP state leaders as well. Its Thalassery belt is Balakrishnan’s constituency, and the Home Minister is drawing allegations that he had facilitated the current spiral of violence.

The killings and violence come in the wake of a series of attacks a couple of months ago, in which six CPI(M) men had been bombed, hacked or stabbed to death, again as a follow-up to previous killings. The CPI(M) apparently took time reacting as it did not want to be distracted from its crucial triennial state conference at Kottayam, where state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan, who too hails from Kannur, was busy consolidating the ground for his re-election in a bitter factional war.

Once the conference got over and there was an inexplicable shuffle of tough senior police officers manning the volatile district, the blood game started. First an RSS leader was hacked, and within minutes, the killings began, leaving a CPI(M) man and two RSS men killed in the space of a couple of hours. Not surprisingly, no leaders from either side has been attacked in the current violence.