Former Kerala Chief Minister R Sankar's family have decided to stay away from his statue unveiling ceremony organised by the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana (SNDP) Yogam, alleging BJP's intention to saffronise the event.

His son Mohan Sankar, who is the president of SNDP Kollam unit, said he and his family will not take part in the event, which is being attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The event was held at SN college in Kollam at 3pm on Tuesday, 15 December.

Mohan, who is the Chairman of Kerala State Backward Classes Development Corporation, said that any effort to move the Congress leader to the BJP camp will not be tolerated.

He said that he was hurt by the BJP agenda to portray his father as a RSS man and added that he was a 100% Gandhian.

Mohan also condemned the SNDP chief Vellappally Natesan's move to exclude the Chief Minister from the event, saying that he and his sister Sasikumari will not attend the ceremony in protest.

On Monday, CM Chandy had said that the people of Kerala stood united and sent a strong warning against communal forces after realising that an attempt was being made to turn the SNDP Yogam into a subsidiary outift of the BJP.

"I felt extremely sad when I was told not to attend the function by the organisers who invited me to the event," Chandy tweeted, "It is not a personal insult. Kerala was insulted when its CM was denied the right to participate in an event where the PM is attending."

Modi, who is visiting Kerala for the first time since becoming PM, will also meet the Kerala cabinet before leaving for Delhi.

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