THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A day after former Keralam chief secretary Jiji Thomson’s revelation that the current Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar had offered him a BJP seat for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, BJP state secretary Jiji Joseph on Sunday alleged the former bureaucrat had met with multiple state leaders in the past, expressing willingness to join the party.
“In meetings with multiple state leaders, Jiji Thomson had expressed his willingness to work towards a BJP government. These meetings were initiated by him and not the BJP, and were about working with the party, not merely for positions. Never will the BJP accept anyone who approaches us with official aspirations alone,” Jiji Joseph told TNIE.
He also released photos of Jiji Thomson taking part in a 2017 BJP event, which was incidentally also attended by senior Kerala Congress leader K M Mani, amid reports of the latter joining the NDA.
Jiji Joseph’s Facebook post on Sunday referred to an event organised to honour Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church Metropolitan Emeritus late Philipose Mar Chrysostom Valiya Metropolitan. The programme, which was hosted by the saffron party’s Minority Morcha, was also attended by the then BJP state chief Kummanam Rajasekharan and senior leader A N Radhakrishnan.
In the Facebook post, Jiji Joseph said the former chief secretary had then spoken highly of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“I was asked by one of the most respected Sangh Parivar leaders to call Jiji Thomson to the event, with whom I had no personal connection until then. And when I invited Jiji Thomson, he agreed to attend the programme, one month after which he was posted as the independent director of Cochin Shipyard,” Jiji Joseph said further.
Claiming that the posting to such a key office takes at least three months, the BJP leader said Jiji Thomson was placed there a month after he attended the party programme.
Mentioning that the former bureaucrat wished for higher positions, the BJP leader said he neither got such posts nor was his tenure extended after three years.
