Amit Shah set to attend BDJS bash

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: BJP national president Amit Shah will be in Kochi on Dec 5 to attend the Bharat Dharma Jan Sena's birthday bash at Adlux International Convention Centre, Angamaly. His visit comes at a time when a section of BDJS leaders have been alleging that they are not getting the due prominence and the promises kept. Rumours are rife that SNDP Yogam general secretary Vellapally Natesan is keen to take BDJS to the left camp which he denies.

BDJS came into being immediately after Mr Nateshan ended his Samatva Munnetta Yatra here on Dec 5 last year. BDJS is celebrating its first birthday with much fanfare. Mr Shah is yet to allocate to both BJP and BDJS leaders posts on Central government boards which have not gone down well with the leaders from both the camps. But at the NDA meeting held at Kozhikode in September immediately after the three-day long BJP national council meeting he had pacified BDJS president Tushar Vellappally.

But a top BJP leader told DC that Mr Shah had made the junior Vellapally admit that he is not in the rat race to get various placements for his leaders. However, BJP camp is aware that Tushar Vellappally will resort to bargaining for more positions in due course. "These days he is holding BDJS conventions in their strongholds of Alappuzha and Idukki districts. He is expected to apprise Mr Shah that BDJS has got this many members, panchayat and mandalam level committees. In fact, BDJS has already started their second level membership campaign where they are already having a strength of more than eight lakh", said a top BJP leader.

However, the BJP camp is worried over the latest developments where several regional level leaders are joining BDJS in large numbers much to the latter's happiness. A majority of the local BJP leaders' conscience don't allow them to embrace the left or Congress. "Mr Shah can't afford to lose the support of the BDJS before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. So he will surrender to the demands of the BDJS," added the BJP leader. But Mr Nateshan told DC that he is peeved with the BJP national leadership for not yet giving Sree Narayana Guru's name to Central University of Kerala, Kasaragod.