With nine chief ministers and two deputy chief ministers arriving in Kozhikode for the three-day summit of BJP, the staff at Kadavu Resort had a hard time organising everything meticulously. But they were caught unawares when Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh landed. With gun trotting black cats, he was ushered in by former BJP state president P. K. Krishnadas and organising committee members. When the hotel staff put his suitcases under the scanner, their eyes popped out seeing several pistols neatly put amid his starched kurta and pyjamas. Since Mr Singh faces the Maoist threat, he is always under Z+ category security.
Bad treat for media
When the party decided to hold its executive and council meetings here, they expected the state unit to arrange everything properly. But on the day one itself, state president Kummanam Rajasekharan came under attack from the media as some 450 reporters covering the event had to go hungry because there was no food counter at the media room.
Instead, they had to wait in the queue for 15 to 20 minutes along with scores of volunteers and police forces, and it resembled a police mess hall. Scribes are fed up with the poorly arranged facilities right from the accommodation and logistics. But the irony is that the national media got VVIP status giving scant regard to local scribes. Two women journalists were promoted to a decent accommodation after they protested about the dirty hotel rooms.
Lessons for state leaders
State BJP leaders have to learn a thing or two from others. Usually, it is tough to get through a majority of state BJP leaders. However, at Kadavu, almost all the national general secretaries and secretaries were spending most of their time during breaks with journalists. At the same time, except former state presidents P. S. Sreedharan Pillai and P. K. Krishnadas, most of the Kerala leaders were not to be seen around.
With few groups ruling the roost in the Kerala leadership, those who keep away fear being stamped as "sources" leaking party information. This is where the state leaders have to take a leaf out of their senior counterparts having a good rapport with scribes.
