Kerala BJP Chief Slams Media Reports on Party’s Core Committee Meet

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala BJP president Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Tuesday criticised the media over reports about the party's state core committee meeting, terming them "completely false and factually incorrect".

In a statement, Chandrasekhar said some journalists were presenting "imaginary stories" as controversies by reporting on issues that did not arise during the core committee meeting.

He said both the BJP's national and state leaderships had expressed "full confidence" in state general secretary S Suresh and rejected reports that he was criticised at the core committee meeting.

"The BJP strongly protests against such false propaganda," Chandrasekhar said, adding that party workers and supporters would not fall for such campaigns allegedly being carried out by vested interests.

He also reiterated that he had clarified several times that no irregularities had taken place in connection with the Assembly elections, and criticised the repeated publication of reports suggesting that discussions on the issue had taken place.

"Continuing such false propaganda about discussions that never took place is not journalism," he said.

The BJP state chief also questioned the media's "excessive interest" in the internal affairs of his party while, according to him, remaining silent on serious issues affecting the country and society.

He said the media, as the "fourth pillar of democracy", had a responsibility to uphold facts and public interest, and warned that giving undue prominence to baseless reports could undermine the credibility of the media as well as harm society.

"Verify facts before the news. Seek the truth before the controversy. Media ethics must be placed above political interests," Chandrasekhar said.

He added that protecting the credibility of the media was not the responsibility of journalists alone, but of everyone who believed in democracy.