Thiruvananthapuram: Even after finalizing the 90- member list of BJP State committee members on Thursday at its core committee meeting, BJP State president Kummanam Rajasekharan was unable to announce the list due to intense factional politics. All the core committee leaders are trying to squeeze in their list of nominees in the list much to the displeasure of Kummanam.
In fact, the jumbo committee has to be announced before national BJP president Amit Shah arrives in Thiruvananthapuram on June 23. At the core committee meeting held at Thiruvananthapuram last Thursday, a final decision to have a jumbo state committee was taken. Former BJP state president P. S. Sreedharan Pillai and one of the four general secretaries A. N. Radhakrishnan did not attend the core committee meeting.
For quite some time, Mr. Pillai has been staying away from attending meetings due to intense factional politics. Apart from that, he is also peeved at the way in which he had not got the wholehearted support of the party when he contested from Chengannur in the Assembly elections.
All the other core committee members including Kummanam, former presidents O. Rajagopal, C. K. P. Padmanabhan, P. K. Krishnadas, V. Muraleedharan, general secretaries M. T. Ramesh, Sobha Surendran and K. Surendran attended the meeting. RSS representatives in the BJP who act as general secretaries, K. R. Umakanthan and K. Subhash, also attended the crucial core committee meeting.
“It is unfortunate that Kummanam is yet to announce the list of State committee members officially even after four days have elapsed since it was finalized. He is being severely hampered by the intense group feud ever since the Assembly elections got over”, said a senior BJP leader.
With the Muraleedharan group has the upper hand which has got the support of central BJP leaders and organisational general secretary B. L. Santhosh, the dissident group is led by Krishnadas which has got the support of two of its general secretaries, Radhakrishnan and Ramesh.
While Surendran is a staunch supporter of Muraleedharan, the firebrand woman leader, Sobha and O. Rajagopal, MLA, are not attached to any group. Kummanam is expected to rope in a few special invitees to the jumbo committee.
Sources close to him told DC that he was groping in the dark as to whom to bring in and whom to drop.
