KASARGOD: BJP state president K Surendran said he will overhaul the leadership at all levels and strengthen the party. He also said indiscipline by leaders and party workers would not be tolerated. He was speaking to reporters after the meeting of the party’s state office-bearers in Kasaragod on Tuesday.
Surendran said five teams would visit each of the 140 Assembly constituencies to review the performance of the party in the election.
The teams would include general secretaries M T Ramesh, C Krishnakumar, P Sudheer, George Kurian, and vice-president A N Radhakrishnan. They would spend at least three days in every district and visit every constituency before drawing their conclusions.The vote share of the BJP-led NDA dipped by nearly 2 percentage points to 11.51% and lost the lone seat it won in 2016 in Kerala.
Meanwhile, the dissenting faction — led by national executive members P K Krishnadas and Sobha Surendran — asked the party president to take moral responsibility for the party’s electoral performance and step down. This was the first meeting of the state office-bearers of the BJP after the assembly election. The meeting — held against the backdrop of the Kodakara hawala heist case and charges of bribing electoral allies and rivals — was inaugurated by BJP national executive member C P Radhakrishnan.
Several office-bearers said leaders should talk and resolve the difference and not give ammunition to rival parties. The rival faction, however, said the party workers had lost faith in the present leadership.But Surendran in his presidential speech said discipline was of utmost importance and corrective steps would be taken against straying members and leaders.
The faction led by Krishnadas and Sobha Surendran said the BJP’s growth in Kerala was on an upward trajectory but has plateaued under the present leadership. “A change in leadership was essential to revive the party. We need a leadership which can earn the trust of people,” said a leader close to P K Krishnadas.
He also said the faction could not play along without a rehaul of the top leadership. The party had announced 50,000 programmes but could not successfully organise even two events in every constituency, said leaders of the rival faction. The protests organised by the BJP, the Mahila Morcha, and the Yuva Morcha on July 2, 3, and 4 were a failure, they alleged. This showed the workers were angry with the leadership, they alleged.
Another set of leaders said they were willing to resign and step aside if the party wanted only those who hail V Muraleedharan and K Surendran.Till now, Surendran had taken a stance which said he wanted only those who were in his group, said rival faction in the post-lunch session of the meeting.They also said Surendran’s statement that the NDA would come to power if it won 35 seats had backfired and consolidated the votes against the party. They attributed the loss in seats such as Nemom, Kazhakoottam, Kattakkada and Palakkad to that statement.