Amit Shah to discuss Lok Sabha polls on Tuesday

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: BJP national president Amit Shah, who arrives here on Tuesday, will be confronted with a plethora of issues, including rampant factionalism which has made the choice of a new state president a tough task. Mr Amit Shah has asked Mr P. Muralidhar Rao, national general secretary,  to file a report on the  state leadership’s preparation for the coming Lok Sabha elections.  Mr  Rao will reach  here  on Sunday afternoon. After  Mr  Kummanam Rajasekharan’s appointment as the Governor of Mizoram, the  two  groups led by Mr V. Muraleedharan MP and Mr P. K. Krishnadas,  former state presidents, have been quite active.  

Mr  Amit Shah’s Facebook page was inundated with complaints from both BJP and RSS workers against Mr Muraleedharan’s  support  to  the four women  actors who had stepped down from AMMA,  instead of rallying behind the cyber-bullying victim, Lasitha Palakkal, former Kannur president of Yuva Morcha. A top state BJP leader told DC that a  new state president will be appointed only after Mr Amit Shah leaves  for New Delhi on Wednesday. “Factional politics will continue  till the central leadership puts a stop to it.  Muraleedharan has the backing of  B. L. Santhosh, BJP national joint general secretary,  who should have kept off  factionalism. The RSS state leadership is against Muraleedharan’s moves,”  said a top state BJP leader.

Former BJP organising general secretary P. P. Mukundan has criticised the state  leadership. He told DC that the party workers are worried over the lacklustre performance of the leadership. “Amit Shah is concerned over the state  leadership. The RSS leadership will not depute anyone as state BJP president after the central leadership, in a surprise move,   sent Kummanam Rajasekharan as the Governor of Mizoram,”  said Mr Mukundan.

Another senior BJP leader told DC that after Mr Amit Shah visited the state in October last,  the party was on a mission to form 24, 000 booth committees across the state. “Except in four parliamentary constituencies, Kasargod, Malappuram, Wayanad and Idukki, we are approaching the  target of forming booth committees,”  he said. Mr Amit Shah will first hold the core committee meeting at RDR auditorium here from 12 noon to 3 p.m. on Tuesday.   This will be followed by a meeting of the in-charges and pracharaks entrusted with the Lok Sabha constituencies from 3.30 p.m. to 4.30 p.m. From 5 p.m. to 6 p.m., Mr  Shah will hold a  meeting with booth in-charges of BJP’s stronghold LS constituencies of  Thiruvananthapuram, Attingal, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha and Mavelikara.