The Bharatiya Janata Party core committee and office-bearers’ meeting held at Alappuzha on Sunday is reported to have witnessed a fervent demand for repealing the disciplinary action initiated against two leaders in the wake of the medical college bribery scam.
Sources privy to the discussions said that a section of the leaders who attended the meeting demanded repealing the disciplinary action against BJP State secretary V.V. Rajesh and Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morch general secretary Praful Krishna. The demand reportedly came up in the course of the discussions regarding the Janaraksha Yatra taken out by president Kummanam Rajasekharan.
The party leadership is reported to have concluded that the yatra was a success and it had helped to develop a camaraderie among the different factions in the party.
It was also felt that the yatra had helped to permeate the spirit of cohesion and unity to the grassroot level. But the State leadership is reported to have turned down the demand for withdrawing the punitive action against the two leaders saying that it was part of organisational discipline and repealing it would send a wrong message to the workers and the public.
General secretary’s role
This stance is reported to have prompted a section of prominent leaders to demand action against a general secretary who was also accused to have directly involved in the scam. The Vigilance and Anti Corruption Bureau, that is probing the case, had issued a notice to him too.
This discussion is understood to have once again brought the simmering differences to the fore. A section in the party still strongly believe that they are being discriminated and by placing the onus for the scam squarely on two leaders, the leadership was trying to abdicate its role in the scam and also the leak of the inquiry report prepared by a party panel.
The lacklustre performance of the party in Vengara Assembly byelection is also known to have figured in the discussions. The State committee will meet on Monday.
