THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Trouble is brewing within the BJP over its Sabarimala agitation and its decision to boycott channel discussions. Mr V. Muraleedharan, MP and former state president, and Mr K. Surendran, state general secretary, made their disagreements amply clear by staying away from the party’s function before the secretariat on Sunday when former state president P. K. Krishnadas called off his relay fast on the Sabarimala issue.
Mr Muraleedharan was all along trying to belittle the protest launched by state president P. S. Sreedharan Pillai at Pathanamthitta and later in front of the secretariat.
However, Mr Pillai made light of the two leaders’ absence and said, “Muraleedharan, in-charge of Telangana, was busy with his work and Surendran had to attend another party programme. Several state-level leaders did not come for the meeting. But the BJP’s protest had gained support which was endorsed by SNDP Yogam general secretary Vellapally Natesan himself on Monday,” he said.
The BJP has also landed in a row with its decision to boycott the media, especially TV. Mr Sreedharan Pillai had sought an explanation from Mr P. Krishnadas, a lawyer-cum-invitee of the state committee, who attended a channel discussion the other day.
Mr Pillai said Mr Krishnadas was only an invitee to the state committee and that he had violated the party’s decision not to attend television debates following the media’s boycott of the press conferences of Mr Pillai and Mr K. Surendran earlier.
“It is an internal matter and we are waiting for the reply from Krishnadas,” added Mr Pillai.
But BJP leaders agree that it was not a sound decision to boycott the channels ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. A former BJP state president told DC that the party was forced to take the decision due to the media’s attitude.
“No media had ever boycotted a political leader’s press meet in the last 35 years. So we decided to boycott the channels with one channel branding our president as a thief,” he said.
The party’s state leadership meet will be held in Thrissur on Thursday which will discuss the house-to-house campaign on the Sabarimala issue.
