A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, Manoj Thackeray (48), was found dead in Barwani district of Madhya Pradesh on Sunday morning, police said. The incident comes three days after another BJP leader was shot dead in Mandsaur, prompting the party to claim that its leaders were being targeted.

“The body had injury marks on the face and around the neck,” said district superintendent of police YD Bhutia. “Thackeray had gone out for morning walk...Local police got the information around 6.40 am that a body had been spotted,” he said.

It may be noted that another BJP leader, Prahlad Badhwar, 39, the municipal body chairman of Mandsaur was also killed, allegedly by a BJP worker.

The state BJP, meanwhile, has blamed the Congress for poor law and order. Party chief Rakesh Singh said as many as four persons including three from ‘BJP family’ were killed in the past five days. He said one Parmal Kushwah from Guna district was shot dead on Sunday after the murder of the BJP leader in Barwani. Singh has threatened to take to street if the situation doesn’t improve. However, PC Sharma, the state law and legislative affairs minister, blamed BJP’s internal feud for the murders.

First Published: Jan 20, 2019 22:56 IST