“I have not given any call for bandh in Coimbatore on October 31,” Annamalai tells Madras High Court

The BJP Tamil Nadu president says the issue is premature and the party is yet to take a call on the format of the protest

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Tamil Nadu president K. Annamalai on Friday told the Madras High Court that he had not given any call for a bandh in Coimbatore for October 31.

Appearing before a Division Bench of Justices Paresh Upadhyay and D. Bharatha Chakravarthy, his counsel R.C. Paul Kanagaraj said the party was yet to decide on the form of protest.

Responding to a public interest litigation petition filed against the statements made by other party leaders with respect to the bandh, he said the issue was premature and the party was yet to take a decision.

The judges recorded his submission and adjourned the hearing of the PIL petition to November 1 with an oral observation that the court would wait and watch what form of protest the party would resort to on October 31.

They also told Additional Advocate-General J. Ravindran that it would be the duty of the State to maintain law and order and it would not require any court order to perform its duties.

[Incidentally, BJP women’s wing national president Vanathi Srinivasan on Friday said the party would go ahead with its bandh call.]

VR. Vengadesh, a businessman from Coimbatore, had filed the PIL petition. He said the BJP leaders had called the bandh to condemn the State government for its alleged negligence in investigating the October 23 car blast in the city, though, according to him, the State had taken effective steps.