Thiruvananthapuram: The state BJP leadership has humiliated its only vocal woman leader, Shobha Surendran, by banishing her from the party’s campaign materials for the local body elections.
Although the party has distributed over one lakh leaflets with the pictures of several state leaders, Shobha, the national executive committee member, does not find a place in them. May be the BJP has takenScores of her supporters have brought this to the notice a cue from the Congress which omitted the photos of UDF convener P. P. Thankachan from the poll posters.
Rank juniors are seen beaming mischievously from party banners along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, state president V. Muraleedharan, the other two national executive committee members O. Rajagopal and P. K. Krishnadas and general secretaries K. P. Sreesan, A. N. Radhakrishnan and K. Surendran. Sources said the patriarchal state leadership had deliberately kept out Ms Shobha, the only credible woman leader who speaks aggressively for the party in various forums. Scores of her supporters have brought this to the notice of national party president Amit Shah.
“It is unfortunate that Shobha has been avoided from the notices and this would not have happened without the knowledge of Muraleedharan. She is the party’s female face in television channel debates but the end result is humiliation,” said a BJP source.
RSS state secretary and Prantha Karyavahak P. Gopalankutty Master told Deccan Chronicle that an investigation had been initiated on excluding her from the publicity materials.
