The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is working on an agenda to wrest power in the State by 2021 by expanding the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), party president P.S. Sreedharan Pillai has said. Addressing a meet-the-press programme organised by the Thiruvananthapuram Press Club here on Thursday, Mr. Pillai said the resignation of senior Congress leader V.M. Sudheeran from the United Democratic Front high-power committee was an indication of the things to unfold.
Frustrated Congress leaders and workers would cross over to the BJP soon. Such leaders would form new parties and become part of the NDA, he said.
The party had already polled 2 lakh to 2.6 lakh votes in five Assembly segments and 1.75 lakh to 2.60 lakh votes in 11 segments. Building upon this tally would not be a tough task. After the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and local body polls in 2020, the party would repeat its Tripura performance in Kerala, he said. The BJP was not averse to having ties with any party without compromising on its ideology. No one was untouchable to the BJP. Even CPI(M) votes would flow to the party, he said, but was non-committal on having the Kerala Congress(M) in the NDA fold.
The doors of the party were open to all, including leaders such as P.P. Mukundan and K. Raman Pillai, he said.
Sabarimala issue
Regarding the entry of women to Sabarimala, Mr. Pillai said the law should take its course. The row over Malayalam novel Meesha could have been averted with an apology.
Asked about the BJP workers’ protest before lawmaker Shashi Tharoor’s office here, Mr. Pillai accused the MP of attempting to divert public attention from the Sunanda Pushkar case by making such controversial statements.
Even the Congress high command had cautioned him on the issue, he said.