TN BJP unit did not call for any bandh, Annamalai informs BJP

CHENNAI: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state unit president K Annamalai on Friday informed the Madras High Court that the state high command has not called for any bandh in Coimbatore on October 31 in connection with the cylinder blast incident that occurred on October 23 in Kottaimedu area of the western district.

Advocate Paul Kanagaraj representing Annamalai made this submission before the second bench of Madras HC comprising Justice Paresh Upadhyay and Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy.

The judges were hearing a petition filed by one Coimbatore-based industrialist named VR Venkatesan. The petitioner alleged that BJP has called for a bandh on October 31 which is illegal, unconstitutional, and would pose threat to the lives and property.

However, advocate Paul Kanagaraj informed the bench that the state president did not make any such announcements. It was the functionaries of the Coimbatore district who had made a statement to conduct such an event. The BJP state unit has not decided anything whether or not to conduct the bandh.

He also submitted that the BJP Tamil Nadu has not approved such announcements made by the Coimbatore district unit functionaries of the BJP.

The petitioner further sought an interim injunction restraining the BJP from conducting the bandh till the disposal of this case. However, the judges rejected such submission observing that the BJP itself declared that it had not called for any bandh and interim orders cannot be passed at this stage. The petitioner informed that while the Coimbatore car blast incident case was taken over by the National Investigation Agency for further investigation, it is unnecessary to conduct the bandh.

The bench adjourned the matter to November 1.