KOCHI: The BJP leadership in Kerala has adopted a wait and watch policy after the Kerala Congress (Mani) leaders denied reports about them joining the BJP-led NDA. “BJP has not extended an invitation to anybody,” party state president Kummanam Rajasekharan told reporters in Kochi, responding to the statement by Mr Mani that he was not planning for any truck with BJP.
“We have not opened any new chapter. So, there was no need to close any.” Hinting that BJP would not take any initiative for bringing KC (M) to the NDA fold, he said it was for Mr Mani to make a decision. “Let him take a decision and make his position official,” he said. The BJP leadership is likely to opt for ‘one step forward and two steps backwards’ kind of approach so the KC (M) leader will have a ‘cooling period’ before plotting his next move.
Sources close to both BJP and Mr Mani are of the view that a cooling period will serve the interest of both the parties. “A wait and watch approach would provide Mr Mani with enough ammunition to counter the Congress propaganda that he had left the UDF to be part of the NDA to make his son a Union minister,” a source said. So he would prefer to wait for an opportune moment to make the shift. BJP leadership is also worried about the fallout of receiving Mr Mani, facing a series of allegations of corruption.
