THRISSUR: Four women and three Christians figured in Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) 27 new district presidents in Kerala as the saffron party entered the final lap of its reorganisation in the state.
As a part of party reorganisation, BJP has split some districts into different district committees, which include three district committees in Thrissur.
Announcing the new appointments, BJP State president K Surendran told news persons on Monday that the party formed its committees in more than 18,000 booths across the state.
"About 30 per cent of the booth committees are led by women, which is something only BJP can do and be proud of. We have given the opportunity to four women leaders to serve as the district party presidents, we appointed three Christian leaders to serve as the district presidents. How many DCC (District Congress Committees) leaders are women leaders? How many CPM district secretaries are mahila leaders?" he asked.
BJP's women district presidents in Kerala are M L Aswani in Kasaragod, Deepa Puzhakkal in Malappuram, Nivedida Subrahmanian in Thrissur West, and Raji Prasad in Kollam.
The three Christian district presidents are Justin Jacob in Thrissur City, Roy Chacko in Kottayam East, and V C Varghese in Idukki South.
In addition, out of 269 constituency committees of BJP, 34 will be led by women, a revolutionary step, when compared to the presence of women in key positions in other political parties in Kerala, Surendran said.
Further, 14 from the Christian community, and 32 from Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes, are included in the constituency committees, he added.
"The decision to split the districts was taken as part of strengthening the party's activities. Population and geographical aspects were taken into consideration while splitting the districts into different committees," Surendran said.
Meanwhile, responding to the questions about dissenting voices among BJP councillors in Palakkad Municipality, Surendran said that the party had its own mechanism to resolve such issues and BJP wouldn't lose its power in Palakkad municipality.
To a question about Sandeep Varier's appointment as KPCC spokesperson, Surendran replied with a question "Who is he?".