THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The BJP national executive committee reconstituted on Thursday has two members, two special invitees and three permanent invitees from Kerala. While V Muraleedharan and Kummanam Rajasekharan have been included in the national executive as members, P K Krishnadas and ‘Metroman’ E Sreedharan have been made special ‘invitees’. O Rajagopal, Sobha Surendran and Alphons Kannanthanam were dropped from the party’s national decision-making body.
National vice-president AP Abdullakutty and national spokesperson Tom Vadakkan have been included as ‘permanent invitees’ in their capacity as central office-bearers. State president K Surendran is also a ‘permanent invitee’ to the national executive along with other state unit chiefs.
The “downgrading” of Krishnadas from a member to a ‘special invitee’ and the exclusion of Sobha from the national body have not gone down well with their respective supporters. However, both leaders have decided to lie low for the time being as the Muraleedharan-Surendran camp holds sway in the state unit and also enjoys the backing of the national leadership.
Kannanthanam welcomes nat’l body reconstitution
T’Puram: Sobha’s continuance as the vice-president of the state unit even after the recent party reorganisation had given enough indications that she may not be retained as a national executive member. There are indications that the state leadership vehemently opposed her inclusion in the national body and instead backed Kummanam who had maintained a cordial relationship with the official faction even after his drubbing in Nemom.
Meanwhile, former Union Minister Alphons Kannanthanam welcomed the reconstitution of the national body. “I was a member of the national executive for 10 years. I think that is a long time and I believe younger people should come to the national executive,” he told TNIE. The national executive committee has 80 members including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and 50 special invitees.There are 179 permanent invitees to the national body.