New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah instructed the party’s Kerala unit to hold its State core committee meetings every month and send the minutes of these meetings directly to him, after two former presidents of the Kerala unit had complained of being overlooked in decision making by the incumbent, Kummanam Rajasekharan.
At a meeting of the all-India State core committees of the BJP, Mr Shah, sources said, held a separate meeting with the core groups of Kerala, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. “During this meeting, he asked these committees to hold meetings at least once a month and send the minutes to him. He also specifically told the Kerala unit that they were free to approach him in case of any problems,” said the source.
This intervention comes after two former presidents of the State unit had complained of being sidelined by Mr. Rajasekharan, to general secretary (organisation) Ram Lal and joint general secretary (organisation) V Satish on Monday.
According to senior office-bearers in the party, Mr. Rajasekharan has not been consulting senior party men in Kerala over appointments such as mandal or district heads. “In fact, 90 out of 140 mandal appointments have come directly from the Hindu Aikya Vedi [a local Hindutva outfit], the RSS and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, and not through the party’s cadre,” said a source explaining the grouse.
“In fact, former party president C.K. Padmnabhan has openly clashed with Mr. Rajasekharan in party meetings over this lack of consultation,” said an office-bearer. Mr. Rajasekharan is seen as giving a lot of importance to general secretary of the local unit M. Ganesh, and the three other direct recruits from the RSS and now appointed regional organisational secretaries — Kashinathan, Padmakumar and Ko. Vai. Suresh.
The BJP had been very upbeat following its debut in the Kerala Assembly in the recently concluded polls and has been drawing up ambitious plans for expansion, including among communities not traditionally considered sympathetic to the party’s ideology.
Senior party leaders less directly drawn from the RSS, unlike Mr. Rajasekharan have felt that his very obvious preference for only Sangh cadre would hinder that expansion plan.
The party is hoping that this intervention by Mr. Shah would end the turf war within the party.
Bureau Report
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