Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday termed the murder of Tamil Nadu BJP leader V Ramesh as shocking and demanded that the culprits be punished at the earliest.
Ramesh alias Auditor Ramesh was General Secretary of BJP's Tamil Nadu unit.
The 52-year-old was attacked with sharp-edged weapons near his house in Salem town late Friday night by unidentified assailants.
"Killing of our Tamil Nadu unit's General Secretary V Ramesh is shocking. Spoke to TN BJP President last night (Friday night) and expressed sadness on the killing," Modi tweeted.
"My deepest condolences to the family of Shri V Ramesh. May his soul rest in peace. The culprits must be punished as the earliest," he further said on the micro-blogging site Twitter.
Tamil Nadu BJP President Pon Radhakrishnan has said Ramesh is the fourth state-level party leader to be murdered in the past one year.