The infighting in the Kerala unit of the BJP is set to bother its national leadership again soon after its recent bid to quell factionalism. The group clashes in the BJP state unit have intensified as a fallout of the party's involvement in the agitation linked to Sabarimala.
The factions led by Rajya Sabha MP V. Muraleedharan has readied plans to report to the central leadership that the BJP in the state, led by president P.S. Sreedharan Pillai, did not respond adequately to recent developments in Sabarimala that have angered the cadres. They would cite the arrest of general secretary K. Surendran and the resistance that Union Minister Pon Radhakrishnan faced from the police during his visit to Sabarimala.
The Muraleedharan faction would also apprise the national leaders that the Pinarayi Vijayan government dared to pile on cases against Surendran because the state BJP unit is not putting up any effective resistance.
The latest strife in BJP cropped up after the earlier discord over the medical college bribery case had settled. It was reported that some state BJP leaders had accepted bribes to get Central nods for medical colleges.
Considered neutral, Sreedharan Pillai was brought in to helm the BJP state unit in a bid to end the battle of the groups, which had peaked during the medical college row. But the Muraleedharan faction has now come out with the charge that Pillai is protecting the interest of only one group in the party.
The strife flared up again recently after the arrest of Surendran. The BJP and the RSS were lukewarm to Surendran, who rushed into the hill shrine agitation on his own. It is perceived that the rightwing leadership ignored Surendran as he faced legal hassles.
The police arrested Surendran at Nilakkal itself and kept him locked up with several cases. The Muraleedharan faction alleged that even the state president did not bother to find out what was happening to Surendran. Neither did anyone bother to raise a strong protest over Surendran's arrest.
The MP and his faction pressed the charge that the Vijayan government dared to proceed with tough measures because of weak resistance from the current state leadership of the BJP. They pointed out that the state BJP unit merely issued a statement when a police superintendent virtually “mocked” a Union minister who was proceeding to Sabarimala.
It is understood that Muraleedharan himself will submit the complaint to the national leadership.
The RSS-BJP workers have been on a warpath after the Vijayan government decided to implement the Supreme Court verdict that allowed women of all age groups to enter the Sabarimala temple.
-Via onmanorama
