BJP all in to woo outside leaders

Thiruvananthapuram: BJP national leadership has sent out a message that they are serious about Kerala by giving G. Raman Nair and Prameela Devi top organisational roles.

The former Congress leaders were not expecting to find themselves in the post of vice-president and state committee member respectively. At the same time, it has not gone down well with a cross-section of party leaders.

State leaders were on a high ever since the Sabarimala issue hogged the limelight.

For quite some time, BJP central leadership has been trying to poach bigwigs from rival political parties, and state president P. S. Sreedharan Pillai proved better in the art compared to his predecessor Kummanam Rajasekharan whose attempts failed.

Mr Pillai’s announcement in Kozhikode that 12 leaders from rival political parties will join the BJP at Pathanamthitta on Monday is being looked upon with apprehension.

“Sreedharan Pillai has been successful in bringing only second and third rung leaders who have not been active in the party. His words sound hollow and are trying to cash in on the Sabarimala euphoria and nothing else. None of the senior leaders will ditch us,” said a Congress leader.

For quite some time, he has been claiming that a senior Congress leader will join BJP. When he roped in Mr Nair, Congress leaders thought the senior leader was him and none else.

But on Sunday, BJP leaders claimed that yet another senior leader would be joining them. However, a section of senior BJP leaders is not happy about providing senior party posts to the defectors.

“It's a real shame that when several veteran leaders have not been accommodated anywhere leaders who join overnight walk away with key posts. It means that their services to the party are completely forgotten,” said a veteran leader.