The inability of the State unit of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to emerge as a power player in the State’s polity is something that the Bharath Dharma Jana Sena (BDJS) is unhappy with, maintains party president Thushar Vellappally, who is also convener of the NDA Kerala unit.
“We being the fifth largest party in the State do not perceive the NDA as a tiny coalition. It has the potential to make it to the big league and our only problem is with it not striving to be there. Despite the State being beset with problems, we have not taken up any agitation against the government under the umbrella of the coalition. Maybe because unlike the other two fronts, the BJP in the State is not used to being part of coalition politics,” he told The Hindu in a telephonic interaction.
Mr. Thushar said while some leaders from his party would take part in the launch of the BJP’s Janarksha Yatra in Payyannur on Tuesday, he had other commitments. “It is a yatra led by the BJP and it would be improper to ask our ranks to be part of it,” he insisted.
Mr. Thushar said his party would find it tough to function smoothly if its representatives weren’t appointed district-level conveners of the coalition in Ernakulam (where a convener has still to be decided), Kottayam (where the post has gone to P.C. Thomas’s Kerala Congress) and Alappuzha (where it is with the JSS).
“They are all small parties and our people would be uncomfortable if they are made to work under conveners from these parties. As such, we are stronger than the BJP in these places. Didn’t we see that in the Assembly polls” he asked, hoping to sort out the differences soon.
Mr. Thushar sought to downplay differences in the coalition over sharing of the Central boards and corporations, maintaining it never really was an issue.
He said SNDP Yogam general secretary Vellapally Natesan’s view that the party should severe its ties with the BJP is “the general secretary’s personal view”, which was not shared by the party. The BDJS was hopeful that with the GST implementation streamlined, the economy would be back on track ahead of the general elections in 2019.
On the State government, he said the BDJS would step up its agitation to make revenue land available to the landless and the party had already kick-started a campaign on this issue.
