Kannur: A Congress office was set on fire at Kodiyeri, near Thalassery in Kannur district, late on Wednesday night, on a day marked by heightened tension between the Congress and the CPM after Health Minister Veena George claimed she was injured during a KSU protest against her.

The Congress Mandalam Committee office- functioning on the first floor of an old tiled-roof building at Paral in Kallil Thazhe- caught fire around 11 pm, according to firefighters from the Thalassery Fire and Rescue Station, about 6 km away.

Two fire units led by Station Officer A Rajeevan reached the spot by 11.11 pm. "By the time we arrived, residents were attempting to douse the flames," a firefighter said. The fire was inside the building.

Fire and rescue personnel brought the blaze under control within 15 minutes. By then, the wooden attic of the tiled structure had been gutted, and portions of it had fallen into the office below, damaging a table, a television set and a carrom board. Fire officials estimated the loss at around ₹50,000. They added that the situation could have been more serious as power lines run above the building.

Congress leaders alleged that the fire was set from the rear side of the building. They said shops function on the ground floor and said the office, located in a CPM stronghold, had been targeted during previous political flashpoints as well. Police said the cause of the fire is under investigation.

Rajiv Bhavan, the Congress office at Pattari in Maloor near Mattannur, was also vandalised. Grease was splashed on the walls, and window panes were smashed late Wednesday night.

Earlier in the day, CPM state secretary M V Govindan had called for strong statewide protests alleging that the minister was assaulted by activists of the Congress's Kerala Students' Union (KSU). Five KSU leaders, including its district president M C Athul, were subsequently booked on charges of attempt to murder.

However, visuals from the railway station show police forming a cordon around the minister and pulling protesters away before they could reach her. The footage also shows the minister charging towards the protesters, with police officers physically restraining her. No visuals are showing KSU workers physically assaulting her.

In the hours that followed, CPM workers were seen vandalising posters and billboards put up for a UDF election rally led by Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan, and staging protest marches in Kannur town. The CPM's student wing, SFI, marched to the Congress District Committee office and raised slogans against Athul, who had led the protest at the railway station. DYFI, the CPM's youth organisation, also organised protests in response to the alleged assault on the minister, threatening retaliation.