Kerala   

Central BJP team on truce mission to State

Dennis Marcus Mathew

Mediatory talks likely to be held at Malampuzha

KAYAMKULAM: The widening rift in the State unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has forced the party’s central leadership to depute a team to hold talks between the BJP top brass here and Bharatiya Janapaksham, the splinter organisation headed by K. Raman Pillai.

Mr. Pillai, who formed Janapaksham after falling out with the State leadership following the BJP’s disappointing show in the last Assembly elections, said here on Sunday that he would defer his decision to float a new party till the talks with the Central team, which reportedly includes senior leaders Bal Apte and Balbir K. Punj.

The talks, Mr. Pillai said, would serve any purpose only if the issues he had raised about the State leadership were solved.

The central team, about which Mr. Pillai is yet to get an official communication, is expected to hold the truce talks at Malampuzha on July 6, 7 and 8.

Talking to The Hindu on the sidelines of a State-level conference of Janapaksham here on Sunday, Mr. Pillai said he had no intention of challenging the party. Nor was he interested in any posts. “I am fighting for the ideologi es of this party, which have been ignored by its present leaders, including BJP State president P.K. Krishnadas. And that is the sole reason for the shambles that the party is in now,” he said.

Stating that it was up to the BJP authorities, who were yet to initiate any action against Mr. Pillai, to decide on reconciling with him, he said that while he was ready for talks, they had not shown any interest. “The issues that I raised, including the fact that several State leaders were working against the party’s principles and that this was leading to the party’s voter strength in the State dwindling over the last four years have not been addressed. Destructive minds are leading BJP in Kerala now. Unless these matters are set right, I’m not going back,” he said.

“There is no doubt that the BJP in Kerala is going through its worst phase. I have the support of thousands of workers who are upset with the present leadership. Even senior leaders like O. Rajagopal have not said anything against me. In fact, he attended our Ernakulam meet. I have no doubt that if I float a new party that sticks to ideologies, aims and policies that we are formulating here today, we can make a difference in Kerala,” he said.

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