New Delhi, Oct 16 (IANS): "The plummeting popularity of the BJP and the NDA that it heads is forcing the BJP to mount attacks on the Left," the CPI-M said on Monday.

A communique issued after a meeting of its Central Committee here dubbed the Bharatiya Janata Party's ongoing yatra in Kerala against the political violence there as a "flop".

"The lukewarm response the yatra received in the initial stages itself forced the BJP President (Amit Shah) to abandon it midway and return to Delhi," it said.

"The people of Kerala know that it is the saffron terror of the RSS/BJP that is responsible for the recurring political violence in Kerala. The violence in fact was begun by the RSS four and half decades back. 

"These attacks escalate whenever there is a LDF government in office. All these have been well documented," the Communist Party of India-Marxist said.

"That the fortnight-long yatra had a negative impact is borne by the results of the by-elections to the Vengara assembly constituency where the BJP vote fell sharply and it was pushed to the fourth position," it said.