Amit Shah in Kerala calls for unity in BJP as party battles factionalism in search for new state unit president

The rift in the Kerala unit of the Congress over the defeat of the party candidate in the Chengannur by-election and the ‘gifting’ of a Rajya Sabha seat to its ally, the Kerala Congress (M) later, were seen as an opportunity for BJP to expand its base in the southern state. But the national leadership of the party messed up the chance by packing off party’s state president Kummanam Rajasekharan, a nominee of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) to the north eastern state of Mizoram as governor, even before the poll results were out and then delaying his replacement. Repeated discussions at various levels of the party and with RSS leadership to find a consensus candidate did not yield results even after 40 days. BJP’s national secretary (organisation), BL Santhosh and national secretary in-charge of Kerala H Raja, who were deputed by the national leadership to evolve a consensus, had a tough time, with the two groups in the party and the RSS lobbying for their nominees. The first task of the leaders was to mollify the RSS leadership, which felt outraged by the national leadership’s decision to unceremoniously remove Rajasekharan before completing his term, that too without consulting them. The RSS leaders termed his shift from Kerala to Mizoram as a punishment transfer. Rajasekharan, an RSS pracharak, was appointed as the state president in 2015, when the state unit was vertically split between two factions led by the then state president V Muraleedharan and his predecessor PK Krishnadas. Though the national leaders have succeeded in convincing the RSS leadership about his removal, they have not been able to iron out differences over his successor. [caption id=“attachment_4467887” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of BJP chief Amit Shah. PTI[/caption] While the Muraleedharan faction is backing K Surendran and the Krishnadas group is lobbying for AN Radhakrishanan or MT Ramesh, the RSS wants a leader cutting across factional affiliations to lead the party in view of the crucial Lok Sabha polls next year. Party cadres are looking towards party’s national president Amit Shah to end the impasse. Shah, who was on a day’s visit to Kerala on Tuesday, has sought to resolve the issue by holding talks with state leaders of his party as well as the RSS. A senior leader said Shah was likely to lend more weight to the RSS claim since the organisation has more grassroot presence in Kerala. The need of the hour is a strong and dynamic leader who can carry all sections of the Sangh Parivar together to achieve the party’s target of winning at least 12 Lok Sabha seats in 2019. The leader, who did not want to be identified, told Firstpost that Shah had heeded the RSS advice in 2015 when factionalism in the state unit of the party had reached its peak. He had brought in the RSS pracharak with a brief to end the factional squabbles. Though he failed in ending the factionalism, the party under his leadership could win a seat in the Assembly and increase its vote share from 6 to 14 percent in the 2016 Assembly elections, the leader said. Rajasekharan had managed to achieve this by expanding the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) with the inclusion of Bharath Dharma Jana Sena (BDJS), a political arm of the numerically superior Hindu Ezhava community, in the coalition. He was shunted out at a time when he was trying to build bridges with the upper caste Nair community. An RSS leader said that that the BJP will be able to reach out to the community if they succeed in roping in the Nair Service Society (NSS), a socio-cultural organisation that holds strong sway over the community. Nairs, who traditionally backed the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF), have been distancing themselves from the coalition after the Kerala Congress and Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), which champion the interest of Christians and Muslims respectively, started dominating. Though the Congress has sought to alter the equation by elevating senior Nair community leader Ramesh Chennithala as the UDF chief and Opposition leader, the majority community does not seem to be convinced. The defeat of the party nominee in the by-election at Chengannur is seen as a clear indication of the alienation of the community from the party. The Congress decision to give the Rajya Sabha seat to the Kerala Congress (M) has further aggravated the resentment among Hindus. The decision has also widened the rift within the Congress with a section of the leaders openly challenging party’s state leadership and the high command in New Delhi. RSS leaders believe this is a golden opportunity for the BJP to make inroads into the Nair community and consolidate the Hindu votes in the state. Its past efforts to woo the Nairs failed because of the strong stand taken by the NSS leadership against any political truck with any party. They feel the task to rope in the NSS would be easy now, with protests mounting within the Congress itself against the minority dominance in the UDF. The BJP leaders fear this would amount to pursuing the hard Hindtuva line that the party follows in the north. They feel this will be counterproductive in a state like Kerala where the minorities constitute nearly 46 percent of the population. The party, therefore, has been trying to strike a balance between the majority and minority communities by adopting a soft Hindutva line. The party leaders doubt whether they can achieve the electoral goal without support of the minorities. They, therefore, want a leader who can win the confidence of the minorities to head the party. Former president PS Sreedharan Pillai is one of the few leaders in the BJP with a morderate face. Many in the party feel that he will be the apt leader to head the party at this juncture. His name was added to the list of probables after consensus eluded the nominees proposed by the warring groups. Amit Shah, who arrived at Thiruvananthapuram, expressed his strong displeasure over the raging factionalism in the party at the meeting of the state core-committee, according to party sources. The party chief asked the leaders to end their squabbles and work unitedly to face the coming Lok Sabha election. He reviewed the party’s preparations for the election at the meetings of the state core committee and leaders of the party’s parliamentary units. He will be addressing a meeting of the party in-charges of Thiruvananthapuram, Attingal, Kollam, Alappuzha, Pathanamthitta and Mavelikkara constituencies later in the evening. Shah has not revealed his mind about the new president. Party leaders expect him to announce the name either before leaving the state or after he returns to New Delhi. Shah is scheduled to fly back to the national capital on Wednesday morning.