Call for leadership change in BJP likely

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: BJP former state president Kummanam Rajasekharan’s return to state politics is likely to strengthen the call for a leadership change in Kerala BJP. The party’s decision to reshuffle the top deck hardly a year ago has done more damages than good, feel a number of senior leaders, irrespective of their group politics.

“Nobody has ever told us the reasons for packing Rajasekharan off when he was fully engrossed in election campaign for the Chengannur byelection,” said a senior leader in the party on condition of anonymity.

“If internal quibbles were the reasons, the appointment of Pillai has not addressed the issue. The party’s two prominent groups (led by V Muraleedharan and P K Krishnadas) have expressed disgust over the functioning of P S Sreedharan Pillai. Naturally, the call for a leadership change would be strengthened. But whether Rajasekharan would come back to the party president post would be solely depend on the outcome of the Thiruvananthapuram election,” he added. “But the demand for a change in leadership is expected to gain momentum in the post-poll period,” he said.

According to sources, the RSS leadership in the state is also not happy over the way BJP, under the leadership of Pillai, handled the Sabarimala crisis. Several favourable developments, most of them engineered by Sangh Parivar organizations at the behest of RSS, were missed or vitiated by the ‘unguarded’ and ‘untimely’ statements by BJP leaders, mainly the party president. NSS leadership too share a similar feeling.

The enthusiasm among party leaders and workers in Thiruvananthapuram over the return of KRajasekharan and his candidature is seen as a testimony on the growing divide within the organization. It was not long ago when Sreedharan Pillai sought explanation from party senior leader and spokesperson M S Kumar for being vocal about the party cadre’s wish that Rajasekharan should contest the Parliament election from the state capital.