Coimbatore : Tension prevailed in the city in the early hours after two petrol bombs were hurled at the BJP office. Three persons were arrested in this connection.

The miscreants, who had come in a three-wheeler autorickshaw, hurled two petrol bombs at the office in Siddapudur around 4 am, one hitting a board of a ticket booking office for Tirupati run by Andhra Pradesh Tourism and another on road, police said.

The incident was said to be in retaliation to the to the remarks made by BJP national secretary H Raja of razing the statues of Periyar in Tamil Nadu, after the removal Lenin’s statue in Triupura yesterday.

Even as three special police teams were on the lookout for the miscreants, based on the CCTV footage, three persons, said to be members of Thanthai Periyar Dravida Kazhakam, surrendered at two police stations.

The arrested were identified as Balan, Jeevanantham and Goutham. After an emergency meeting to take stock of the situation, with local BJP leaders at the office, Coir Board Chairman and party national executive member CP Radhakrishnan said BJP never supported violence and ideology should be fought with ideology. No one protested or raised voices against those who hurled or garlanded chappals on Hindu idols or spoke ill of Hindu leaders and Periyar was not not a god but a human being, he said.

On the comments made by Union Minister Pon Radhakrishnan that Tamil Nadu was of late becoming the training centre for terrorism and rebuttal by both Chief Minister and his deputy, Radhakrishnan said the hurling of petrol bombs was proving it to be true.He asked the police department to unearth the network behind the attack.