THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state BJP is likely to announce its list of office-bearers, including state president, by the end of November. RSS top brass in a recent meeting decided that the vacuum at the top in the state BJP has to be filled with immediate effect.
The BJP national leadership has conducted several rounds of discussions with the state RSS leaders and is in the process of finalising the list of office-bearers. There is a general feeling among the national leadership that the state BJP could not properly communicate to the public or create awareness among believers on the Supreme Court verdict on Sabarimala and this was owing to the party not having an able leadership.
“RSS state leaders have already communicated to the national BJP leadership on the constitution of the party-state committee and are preferring a powerful general secretary in charge of the organisation to run the party from behind,” a senior leader of the state BJP told TNIE.
While the names of K Surendran and Sobha Surendran are doing the rounds for the post of state president, the RSS is more keen on the state organising secretary. The name of Kshathriya Sambark Pramukh of RSS A Jayakumar is doing the rounds for the post of state organising secretary of the party. Jayakumar is a civil engineering graduate from Government Engineering College, Thiruvananthapuram, and an RSS pracharak for the past several years.
He was the national organising secretary of the Vigyan Bharathi and Swadeshi Science Movement in the state. He is considered an impeccable organiser with grass-root connect and a tough taskmaster.
With the dedicated trained cadre of the RSS acting as foot soldiers, the BJP will have to rely more on the Sangh before considering names for key posts in the party. It may be noted that the organising secretaries of the BJP at the national and state levels are always senior pracharaks of the RSS.
The national general secretary of the BJP B L Santhosh, who was in charge of the state party, will be taking a final call on the post of state president and other office bearers. With V Muraleedharan becoming powerful in the BJP scheme of things, the possibilities of Surendran emerging as the party president are high.