Congress intensifies protest against the LDF government following the SFI attack on Rahul Gandhi's office

Thiruvananthapuram

Congress seemed poised to up the ante in the tense stand-off with the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] in the politically turbulent aftermath of the Students Federation of India (SFI) attack on the All India Congress Committee (AICC) leader Rahul Gandhi's regional office at Kalpettah in Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency on Friday.

The violent incident's political reverberations echoed across the country for the second day on Saturday, with Youth Congress workers laying siege to the CPI(M) national headquarters at AKG Bhavan in New Delhi. It also drew across-the-board censure from leaders across the country.

Kerala Governor Arif Muhammad Khan denounced the attack in New Delhi. "We are a rule of the law society. Nobody has the right to indulge in violence. Such action runs against the grain of democracy", he said.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Mallika Arjun Kharge, the Opposition Leader in the Rajya Sabha, and Union Minister of State for External Affairs, V. Muralidharan, decried the incident.

Mr. Gandhi has not reacted to the attack. Congress sources said he was likely to visit Wayanad on June 30.

Mr. Muralidharan denied Congress's allegation that the CPI(M) had vandalised the MP's office to favour BJP's national leadership. He said the Congress-CPI(M) feud showed that the so-called emerging national opposition against Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rule was a chimaera.

CPI State secretary Kanam Rajendran criticised the SFI's action. He said that all parties involved in the current fracas should exercise restraint. Mr. Rajendran said he did not see any logic in Congress's bid to link the attack to the Enforcement Directorate's interrogation of Rahul Gandhi. "That is because of his (Rahul's) own doing", he said. CPI State secretary K. Prakash urged the CPI(M) to reign in the SFI.