For the first time after more than a year after he assumed power as Chief Minister in Kerala, Pinarayi Vijayan appears to wonder if his poll campaign promise of "all will be well' has gone wrong.

Some observers doubted if this is what made him to despair in public here on Sunday over a campaign by vested interests that "everything about the state doesn't look right these days''.

Calls peace meeting

The Chief Minister's loud thinking found expression during an all-party meeting held to ring in peace after recent political violence seemed to open a new front in the state capital.

Familiar tit-for-tat clashes between the CPI(M), which leads the ruling LDF coalition, on the one side, and the BJP-RSS on the other, have been thought to be confined to the northern districts.

Not any more, as a series of clashes and murders, including the latest of an RSS karyavah in Thiruvananthapuram proved, giving BJP the perfect handle to go all-out against the State Government.

After all, Pinarayi Vijayan was the last man standing among a battered Opposition across major states, stopping the BJP juggernaut from rolling over and decimating everything on its way.

The party, which had suffered a loss of locally in a bribery scandal, could not afford to let go of the opportunity to take the fight to the rival camp to claim back its lost credentials.

High-profile visit

National president Amit Shah had deputed no less than the party's tall leader and Finance and Defence Minister Arun Jaitley to pay a visit to the slain karyavah's house here.

Accompanied by MPs Nalinkumar Kateel, Richard Hay, and Rajeev Chandrasekhar, he met the grieving family and extended all help from the party and the government.

Speaking at a meeting convened to condole the karyavah, Jaitley said that the cold-blooded nature of political murders in Kerala was something even terrorists would desist from.

Jaitley's high-profile visit was perfectly timed to coincide with the peace meeting called by Chief Minister and even appeared to wean away most of the attention of the news media.

It is at the end of this meeting that the Chief Minister expressed his fears over over the misguided propaganda against the State.

Social media campaign

This would adversely affect the prospects of investments coming its way and also the development programmes that his government is spearheading.

He agreed that political crimes and violence need to be nipped in the bud. Criminals need to be seen as who they are, irrespective of their political affiliations.

The Chief Minister also said that the police has proceed to act proactively against the criminals and would spare none. But the party leaders present at the meeting sought more resolute action.

Vijayan appealed to them that all party leaders to stand as one to uphold the State's rich traditions and undertake to jointly take a tour of the areas affected by violence as and when it happens.

The meeting also took strong objection to a flurry of misguided campaigns popularised by vested interests on the social media and sought effective gate-keeping to nix it.

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