THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Henceforth, members of the BJP state brass irrespective of stature will be held accountable for their actions. This is the message conveyed in no uncertain terms by the BJP central leadership to its Kerala unit which resulted in party state secretary V V Rajesh and Yuva Morcha state secretary Prabhu Krishna being stripped off their posts. No political party in the state had survived the challenges for over three decades without having even a glimmer of hope it will taste the fruits of power like the BJP. However, the party managed to surmount the challenges since it had been built on the sacrifices made by thousands of workers. Despite this when the leaders openly try to backstab one another and resort to corruption the ordinary BJP workers were outraged as they could not have endured such degeneration in the party’s ranks.
The grassroots’ feelings on this front have already been conveyed to party brass which forced the BJP central and state leadership to take decisive action.The action initiated against V V Rajesh - regarded as one of the BJP’s poster boys in Kerala till the other day - after it emerged he had leaked out details of the inquiry into the medical college scam, will prove a huge setback to those who had egged him on to act against the party’s interests.
“ One may claim Rajesh’s act of leaking out the report was an attempt to save the party from falling into the quagmire of corruption. But while doing this he should not have risked the party’s future and image. Moreover, he should not have acted as a henchman of some group leaders,” a BJP leader told Express on condition of anonymity.
The disciplinary action against Rajesh will indeed have its fallout. By actively involving himself in the factional feud, Rajesh, a protege of BJP national executive member V Muralidharan,has also undermined the prospects of Muralidharan. Muralidharan, who was tipped for an assignment at the BJP central leadership, too will find it pretty difficult to explain his protege’s act.Also, with the BJP central leadership directing its state chief Kummanam Rajasekharan to initiate action against inquiry commission members K P Sreeshan and A K Nazeer, some other leaders and staff at the BJP state headquarters, Kummanam will have to do some tough talking.
Also, M T Ramesh, another leader with a soft image and mass appeal has now come under a cloud following the graft charges in the medical college scam. Every other leader who has been enjoying the fruits of power without any accountability since the NDA Government came to power will have to wake up to the harsh reality they cannot get away with the shenanigans anymore.