Kerala Assembly Elections: Actor game for campaign, conditions apply

New Delhi: In election-bound Kerala, the BJP is facing a peculiar problem regarding one of its star campaigners and actor Suresh Gopi. He has apparently put a condition before the BJP leadership that former general secretary (organisation) and RSS man P.P. Mukundan should be reinducted in the party.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will start campaigning in Kerala after May 1 and Gopi will share the stage with him and other top brass of the BJP, including party president Amit Shah.

Mukundan had to quit the organisational post in 2006 due to infighting. But he still has a major support base among the BJP cadre, who want him back in the saffron fold. The actor, sources disclosed, also took up the matter with BJP state unit chief Kummanam Rajashekharan. Both Gopi and Mukundan belong to the Nair community, which constitutes around 15 per cent of the total population in the state.

However, an influential section within the BJP's Kerala unit has been blocking Mukundan's reinduction. This section is said to be led by former state unit chief V. Muraleedharan. However, another section is of the view that the reinduction of Mukundan will only send out a positive message to the Nairs.

Apparently, the powerful organisation, Nair Service Society, with whom the BJP was desperately trying for a pre-poll alliance, also wanted Mukundan back in the BJP fold. Though the BJP has been wooing the NSS, the latter's leadership wants to keep its options open.

Even the RSS wanted Mukundan to be back in its political wing so that he could be involved in election-related activities. Mukundan is given credit by many in the Sangh Parivar for helping increase its support base in the state, where the BJP is hoping to enter the state Assembly this time.