No seats for factionalists in 2019 polls, Amit Shah tells Kerala leaders

Thiruvananthapuram: BJP national president Amit Shah has warned against factionalism in the state unit and said that those promoting groupism will not get seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

National organising secretary Ramlal who is considered the No. 2 in the party will visit Kerala once in a month to take stock of the situation.

Mr Shah pulled up the senior Kerala leaders at the BJP core committee meeting in Kozhikode on Monday and made it clear that Mr Ramlal will present a progress report to them on their performance every three months.

BJP sources said that national joint organising general secretary B. L. Santhosh, who was earlier in charge of Kerala, had faced the wrath of a section of BJP state leaders as he allegedly worked for a section in the party.

"It was alleged that Mr. Santhosh was partisan in his approach. Therefore, he was replaced by Ramlal," said a BJP leader.

Depending on the progress report, Mr Amit Shah will compile a final report on the core committee leaders' performance within a year.

He will give a road map soon to the senior leaders on gearing up for the 2019 elections. Another senior BJP leader told DC that four MPs will do the groundwork for the elections, though the names are yet to be finalised.

"Mr Shah urged the core committee leaders comprising former party presidents and general secretaries to work full time. He asked them not to live for themselves, but for the party which shows the autocratic style of Amit Shah," said the leader.

In each LS seat, a core committee leader will be entrusted to work full time and he/she will have to form 90 percent of the booth committees there. Various schemes brought forward by Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be taken up at all Janasevana Kendrams in every constituency so that the schemes will reach the masses in Kerala.