PM Modi to address combined commanders' conference onboard INS Vikramaditya

Kochi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Tuesday address a combined commanders' conference onboard the aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya off the Kochi coast in Kerala.

The Combined Commanders' Conference is an annual three services event which is being held for the first time outside the national capital.

Three service chiefs and other senior officers of the Army, Navy and Air Force will brief the Prime Minister about military issues and also put up suggestions in the one-day event.

The Prime Minister will also unveil former chief minister R Shankar's statue at Kollam and pay floral tributes to Sree Narayana Guru Mahasamadhi at Sivagiri inVarkala before returning to Delhi today.

Addressing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers in a public rally at Thrissur yesterday, the Prime Minister said that the BJP had suffered most in Kerala during the last 50 years, adding that scores of party workers were "murdered" in the state for political reasons.

He also decried social untouchability in Kerala and said that several saints and Rishis had dedicated their lives to end social untouchability in the state and also lashed out at the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) coalition and Communist Party of India (Marxist)-Left Democratic Front (LDF) in Kerala and accused them of looting the state in turns.

Prime Minister Modi arrived at Kochi Naval Base yesterday on a two-day trip to Kerala and was received by Kerala Governor P Sathasivam and Chief Minister Oommen Chandy.