Kerala BJP leader CK Padmanabhan have asked people who abuse Che Guevara, the Argentine Marxist and Cuban revolutionary figure, to read his book Bolivian Diaries.

The BJP leader’s response comes in the wake of the controversy over state General Secretary of the BJP AN Radhakrishan’s demand that pictures of Guevara be removed from the villages of Kerala as he is a "bad influence on the youths".

CK Padmanabhan who is also a member of BJP National executive council, said “I have heard people say Che was equal to Veerappan. That is because they don’t know Che very well. They should read his Bolivian Diaries,” the leader said.

Reacting to his colleague’s comments that Malayalam film director Kamal should leave the country, Padmanabhan said that nobody has the right to ask someone to leave the country.

“Who has the right to tell someone to leave the country. We are trying to join Pakistan to our country, then why should we tell someone to go there, we should bring people from Pakistan here,” he said.

He also added that the controversial comments of Radhakrishnan had badly affected the party’s image and that it would be discussed in the coming meetings.

Director Kamal came under attack from Radhakrishnan recently for calling Modi a man-eater.