THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The E P Jayarajan row and the subsequent political developments could well turn out to be counterproductive for BJP and its state vice-president Sobha Surendran. Embarrassed by her revelations that attempts were made to woo seven senior leaders from different parties including LDF convener E P Jayarajan to the BJP camp, the party national leadership is mulling action against her.
Even as CPM appears keen to play down the EP episode, its ripples in the BJP camp refuse to die down. There are indications the national leadership is likely to take disciplinary action against Sobha, in the light of her revelations regarding the party’s Operation Lotus in Kerala. Highly placed sources told TNIE that the party’s Kerala prabhari, Prakash Javadekar, will soon submit a detailed report to national president J P Nadda.
While BJP will hold a state-level meeting on May 7 in the presence of Javadekar, the national leadership is likely to take up the matter once the Lok Sabha poll results are announced, said a senior BJP office-bearer. “Sobha’s revelations have in effect validated the opposition’s allegations that BJP is luring opposition leaders through various means, including by offering money. This could also prove a setback for BJP in the long run. Now, there are fewer chances that any leader from opposition parties would approach BJP. It has put a question mark on the leadership’s credibility,” the party functionary said.
Meanwhile, Javadekar has reportedly conveyed his dissatisfaction over Sobha’s links with controversial middleman T G Nandakumar. BJP’s Operation Lotus is said to be operated confidentially without keeping even the state leadership in the loop. However, Sobha, through her statements, revealed that opposition leaders are lured with the help of middlemen through bargaining. The national leadership has reportedly instructed the state leadership, including K Surendran, not to make any public statements on the issue. Surendran had earlier claimed he was aware of Sobha’s operation.
There is strong resentment within the party over Sobha’s revelations. In a Facebook post, senior leader P Reghunath said links with tainted people are not appropriate for leaders. “BJP doesn’t induct people through middlemen. Such middlemen cannot be trusted. BJP workers and society know the party has a clear organisational structure,” he posted.
Party insiders also questioned Sobha’s claims that she was in charge of enrolling new members. The leaders pointed out that as part of the membership campaign for 2023 a committee was formed nationally under the chairmanship of former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Prithviraj Chauhan. She was included in the committee as a representative of south India and of women. The committee, however, stopped functioning in December 2023. She was never part of Operation Lotus, said a leader.
The insiders also questioned Shobha’s claim she has been allotted a room at the party headquarters in New Delhi. “Except for party president, general secretaries, organisational general secretary, co-organisational general secretary, secretaries and vice presidents, no other leaders are given rooms in the headquarters. There’s a hall for the national executive members to rest,” the leader said.
EP sends legal notice to Sobha, Sudhakaran and Nandakumar
LDF convener E PJayarajan has sent legal notice to BJP leader Sobha Surendran, Congress state president K Sudhakaran and controversial middleman T G Nandakumar for allegedly making defamatory and false statements against him the previous day. Jayarajan has warned the trio of legal action against them if they do not make an apology through media, or pay compensation to the tune of Rs 2 crore. The notice was served through Adv M Rajagopalan Nair.