KASARAGOD: BJP state president K Surendran hinted that there will not be any action against leaders who allegedly orchestrated an alliance with the CPM in Kumbla gram panchayat, even as a section of party workers upped the ante against the leadership on Thursday.
"We have already taken action," Surendran told The New Indian Express over the phone on Thursday.
When asked if there will be any action against party leaders such as state secretary K Shreekanth, he said: "Why! The party has not decided anything on that," he said.
On Sunday, party workers rocked the BJP demanding action against leaders who orchestrated an alliance with the CPM in Kumbla panchayat. They locked the party's district headquarters and staged a protest in front of the office demanding disciplinary action against Shreekanth, party North Zone general secretary P Sureshkumar Shetty and the former Manjeshwar mandalam president K Manikandan Rai. They also demanded that the BJP members of Kumbla panchayat should resign from the standing committees formed with the help of the CPM.
On Wednesday, the party's district president Ravish Tantri Kuntar directed all the nine members of the BJP to resign from the standing committees in Kumbla panchayat, thereby meeting one demand of the party workers.
BJP state president Surendran hinted that there would not be any further disciplinary action on the issue.
Leader of the rebel faction and Kasaragod municipal councillor P Ramesh for the first time came out in the open and alleged that Surendran was not taking action against the nexus with the CPM because the leaders may be holding him to a ransom.
"We suspect they (the three leaders) are blackmailing him. That's why he is not taking action against them," he said.
BJP state president Surendran said the allegation did not deserve a reply.
In a press conference held on Thursday, Ramesh reiterated the allegation that Shreekanth, Shetty, and Rai struck an alliance with the CPM in Kumbla panchayat, which paved way for CPM member S Koggu, who was convicted of killing BJP worker Vinu Koipady, become the chairman of the Standing Committee for Welfare. The decision was against the party's circular that there should be no alliance with the LDF or the UDF, said BJP Kasaragod mandalam president K Shankara, who was also in the press conference. "It was also a betrayal of the families of martyrs. The leaders should end their capricious way of leading the party," he said.
Vinu's uncle Vinod K and Naveenaksha, the eldest son of Dayananda, another BJP worker who was killed allegedly by CPM workers, were also present in the press conference.
Ramesh, who recently resigned as the BJP district vice-present over this issue, said they called the press conference because they got a feeling that the party might not take disciplinary action against the leaders.
He said he brought the issue before the notice of Surendran, a day before Uttar Pradesh chief minister Adityanath came to Kasaragod for campaigning in February 2021.
On March 27, Ramesh said, Surendran told him that the mistake committed by the leaders in striking an alliance with the CPM could not be condoned. "He (Surendran) said they should suffer the consequences," Ramesh said.
Surendran said the BJP's core committee will take action on April 7, a day after polling, and the decision would be presented before the state committee for ratification on April 9, he said. "But no action was taken. Our trust has been shattered and we were forced to launch a public protest. Our actions are only to strengthen the party," he said.
Ramesh alleged that Shreekanth had a truck with the CPM earlier, too. When the Thekkil-Alatty road was being widened, a CPM MLA conspired to snatch the BJP's land at Kuttikol, where the party planned to build a booth committee office, Ramesh said. "Though there was enough government land on the other side of the road, the alignment was drawn in such a way that the BJP would lose its plot. Instead of resisting the machination, Shreekanth sided with the CPM and BJO lost its plot," he said.
The leadership admitted they erred in allowing a nexus with the CPM in Kumbla when they asked the panchayat members to resign from the standing committees, he said. "So if a mistake was committed, there should be repercussions too," he said.
Shreekanth, who is in the thick of the allegations, snubbed the press conference of the rebel leaders by posting on Facebook a cartoon with the caption 'the genie is out of the pot'. Ramesh hit back saying: "I was always in the forefront of the protest and with the party workers. His genie will come out when allegations of financial corruption will come out in the open soon," he said.