THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: An attempt by the state leadership to initiate disciplinary action against senior BJP leader Sobha Surendran was thwarted at the party’s core group meeting held in Kochi on Thursday after leaders of other factions expressed their dissent over such a move. It is reliably learnt that a general secretary, close to the official faction, proposed action against Sobha for keeping away from party activities and the election campaign.
However, a leader identified with the P K Krishnadas faction warned the state leadership about the consequences of initiating such an action ahead of the crucial assembly election.
State ‘prabhari’ (in-charge) C P Radhakrishnan and ‘saha prabhari’ (co-in charge) V Sunil Kumar, who attended the meeting as the central leadership’s representatives, were also of the view that the party’s aim should be to take everyone together.
“I am very sure Sobha Surendran will be actively participating in the party activities. She will be coming back and working in full swing for the party,” Radhakrishnan said after the core group meeting. According to Radhakrishnan, the party’s state executive will meet in Thrissur on January 11. The state executive meeting is expected to be stormy as many national council members, close to Sobha, will be in attendance and may pose tough questions to the state leadership about the party’s lacklustre performance in the local body polls.
“We have to strengthen ourselves to face the assembly election which is just five months away. We have already started focusing on that aspect,” Radhakrishnan said, without elaborating further on his assessment of the just-concluded local body elections. The ‘prabhari’ also asserted that the party’s focus was not winning “a few more seats” in the Assembly polls but to dislodge the two fronts and assume power in the state.