THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: BJP president Amit Shah has pulled up state chief Kummanam Rajasekharan and national organising joint general secretary B. L. Santhosh for the Malappuram rout suffered by the party. Mr Shah has asked Mr Santhosh whether his mission was to incite further groupism in Kerala. The final decision to field Mr Sreeprakash, a local candidate, in Malappuram was made on the recommendation of a former BJP state president P. K. Krishnadas, who also shares the dual responsibility of the NDA coordinator.
At the core committee meeting, where the candidate was decided, former state president V. Muraleedharan had said that the election expenses had to be cut down as Rs 10 crore was spent for 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Though veteran O. Rajagopal opposed his view, Mr Kummanam backed Mr Muraleedharan. Mr Santhosh informed the central BJP leadership that it was ideal to field a local candidate in the by-election.
“When Kummanam and Krishnadas were summoned to New Delhi by Amit Shah, they reported that Rs 2 crore was spent for the electioneering. Kummanam had reported to the BJP national executive held at Bhubaneshwar that Sreeprakash would get two lakh votes,” said a BJP leader. Mr Rajagopal had wanted to field a state leader against UDF candidate P. K. Kunhalikutty. At the recent meeting held in Delhi, Mr Kummanam and Mr Krishnadas washed of their hands citing that the final decision on Malappuram was taken by Mr Muraleedharan and Mr Santhosh, which left Mr Amit Shah red-faced.
