Thiruvananthapuram, June 6(BPNS)
In the BJP core committee meet held after the elections and amidst the party facing a volley of charges over the money heist in Thrissur, BJP state president K. Surendran faced a barrage of criticisms.
The BJP in Kerala is divided into two with a section of the party being led by Union Minister of State for External Affairs, V Muraleedharan, and the other section led by former state president of the party, PK Krishnadas.
The core committee meeting which has all the four-party general secretaries as its members along with all the former party-state presidents as its members have met for the first time after the elections.
The state BJP is reeling under pressure after a person, Dharmarajan, an RSS worker registering a complaint at Kodakara police station that a group of people had attacked him after blocking his car and physical intimidation on April 3 and looted an amount of Rs 25 lakhs from him.
The police arrested several known criminals in and around the state and during the course of the investigation found that former state treasurer of the BJP youth wing, Sunil D Naik’s name surfaced. Naik was a close associate of Surendran and the case turned into a major topic of discussion in the state police after interrogation of the arrested people unearthing more than 1 crore of rupees.
State police questioned the BJP state general secretary in charge of the organization and senior RSS leader, M Ganeshan, and party state office secretary, G Gireeshan. Police also leaked information to the media that the BJP state president, K Surendran’s son Harikrishnan would also be questioned in the days to come.
On Sunday before the core committee meeting of BJP, senior party leader and former state president Kummanam Rajashekhran told the media that the BJP state leadership will not allow targeting K Surendran.
The BJP leader said, “The CPM and the Kerala media is targeting BJP and K Surendran, and this vilification is the victimization of the BJP and its president.”
Union Minister of state for External Affairs, V Muraleedharan also told media that the CPM of Kerala is trying to target the state BJP and thereby tarnishing the image of the party.
Sources in the BJP said that in the core committee meeting PK Krishnadas, state General secretaries AN Radhakrishnan and MT Ramesh came out heavily against Muraleedharan and K Surendran. These leaders said that the state BJP leadership failed in arriving at a consensus with all the leaders and this was the main reason for the drubbing the party has faced in the elections.
Another charge was that the candidate selection process was opaque and that the party state leadership failed in putting proper candidates for the elections leading to the party’s heavy losses. It may be noted that BJP had drawn a blank in the 2021 assembly elections even losing the lone Nemom assembly seat it had held during the 2016 elections.
The rival faction of BJP leaders also charged against Surendran over allegations leveled by K Sundara who was a BSP candidate and who withdrew his nominations from Manjeswar assembly constituency where the BJP state president contested. Sundara had told the media that he was given 2.5 lakh rupees and a smartphone to withdraw from the election fray. He said that he was also offered 15 lakhs, a home, and a vine parlour in Karnataka if Surendran wins the elections.
In the Core committee meet Surendran and Union minister, V Muraleedharan said that the party candidates were finalized in the best of the interests of the party and that the party-state president was in no way involved in the money heist. The core committee decided to come out against the CPM led state government for the false charges being made out in public against the BJP using the state police.
