Politicians bicker over Kerala House 'beef' row

Kerala CM Oommen Chandy

Kozhikode/New Delhi: A political row broke out yesterday over Delhi police entering the state-run Kerala House on a complaint that it serves beef, as Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy condemned the ‘raid' as ‘unfortunate'. Chandy received support from his counterpart in Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal.

Kerala CM Oommen Chandy

Accusing Chandy of ‘politicising' the issue, BJP said serving of beef in restaurants in Delhi was illegal.

Kerala House officials dismissed allegations that beef curry was served on its premises, saying that only buffalo meat was offered. However, it has temporarily taken buffalo meat off the canteen menu. It said that a complaint has been lodged over unauthorised entry of activists on Monday following a call to police complaining about cow meat on the canteen menu.

"Kerala House is not a private hotel or an institution run for making profit. It is an official guesthouse of the (Kerala) state government. The police action was really unfortunate.

They should have shown some restraint before carrying out searches," Chandy, a Congress leader, said in Kozhikode, while voicing his protest. Cutting across party lines, state political leaders supported Chandy.

He claimed that a few people were unnecessarily creating a row over the beef ban and that his government would take up the issue of Delhi police's action with the Centre.