THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: BJP district committee on Tuesday claimed that two CPM branch committees at Kovalam merged with BJP. According to the district committee, over 100 CPM activists led by CPM area committee member and former president of Vizhinjam panchayat, Mukkola Prabhakaran joined BJP in the presence of Union Ministers Pralhad Joshi and V Muraleedharan. The activists of CPM Nellikunnu branch committee and Panavila branch committee completely joined BJP. Apart from Mukkola Prabhakaran, branch secretary Vayalkkara Madhu and other left union leaders have also joined the saffron party, the district committee claimed.
In addition, BJP Thiruvananthapuram district president V V Rajesh has also announced that the Mullur CPM branch office near Kovalam will be converted to BJP office.Regarding CPM activists joining BJP, party state president K Surendran tweeted, “More than 100 local office bearers from @CPIMKerala, @INCKerala and @JanataDal_S have joined @BJP4India in the presence of hon’ble Union minister @JoshiPralhad ji. Kerala is a Tripura in the making. No one can stop the saffron surge in Kerala.” The tweet also contained a video of CPM workers joining BJP.
Meanwhile, CPM Kovalam area committee has come up with the statement that the claim by BJP is false and baseless. Sixteen local CPM sympathisers had fielded rebel candidates against CPM candidates in the local body elections. Hence the party had ousted them from the primary membership. In fact, they have joined the BJP now. They were only former party members and the BJP is making false statements and taking credit for all these, the statement said.