Kerala: RSS ticks off factional leaders

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The top RSS leadership has asked the BJP general secretaries to pull up their socks and end the rampant factionalism in the party. This was conveyed to the BJP leaders by the RSS at a meeting held in Kochi on Tuesday.  It may be recalled that  national BJP president Amit Shah and the RSS have been ill at ease over the failure of the state BJP to capitalise on various issues in the state,  including an opportunity to replace the solar-hit  Congress as the main opposition.  The baitak of the RSS leadership with the five general secretaries (originally six) of the BJP was  held at Bhaskareeyam at Elamakkara in Kochi. 

RSS state organising secretary (Prantha Pracharak) P.N. Harikrishna Kumar and Saha Karyavahak M. Radhakrishnan were huddled with BJP's Sobha Surendran, M. T. Ramesh and A. N. Radhakrishnan, and also RSS nominees to the BJP, M. Ganesh and K. Subhash, at the  day-long session. BJP's K. Surendran did not attend  it due to personal reasons. RSS state secretary and Prantha Karyavahak P.  Gopalankutty Master  maintained that it was a routine baitak  along with other parivar organisations. "The RSS leadership must have invited the BJP general secretaries who act as 'prabharis' (in-charge)  to entrust them with specific assignments. These leaders must have apprised the two RSS leaders who are based in Kochi about the progress  made,"   Gopalankutty Master told  DC.

But BJP sources said  that  Mr Harikrishna Kumar has been holding a slew of meetings with the state BJP general secretaries to check the schism, but with little success. Recently Rajya Sabha MP Suresh Gopi had confided to a section of the BJP leaders about the ineffective way in which state president Kummanam Rajasekharan has been leading the party.  Mr Kummanam failed to put up a good fight in the Malappuram Lok Sabha by-election and the Vengara Assembly by-election. "Despite the central BJP leadership supporting the state unit on the CPM terror in Kannur, the party has  performed dismally.  The leaders lack vigour and are interested only in promoting factionalism,"  said a top BJP leader.