The Kerala BJP appears to be finally getting its house in order for its organisational revamp, with issues among leaders sorted out and the party giving prominent representation to women, Christians and young leaders in its choice of new district chiefs.
Even voices of discontent from key BJP partner Bharat Dharma Jana Sena (BDJS) appear to be dying out.
The party has in all 30 district chiefs – having divided the 14 Kerala districts into 30 for organisational work – and declared names for 27. BJP Kerala president K Surendran points out that four of these new district chiefs are women, and that this is more than in the CPI(M) or the Congress.
Apart from this, three district chiefs are Christians (the party had none earlier), five are younger than 45 years, seven are from the Ezhava-Dheevara OBC community and two from the Scheduled Castes.
The selection of Christian names as district chiefs complements the BJP’s efforts at the national level to woo the community. In Kerala, Christians make up almost 19% of Kerala’s population, a substantial number.
BJP leaders said the new district chiefs would amplify the party’s efforts towards making inroads into Kerala. The party’s electoral success in the state has been limited to one Assembly seat in 2016, and the Thrissur Lok Sabha constituency last year.
There were a few hiccups such as in the appointment of Prasant Sivan, seen as the nominee of state leader C Krishnakumar, as Palakkad East district chief, prompting the resignation of a few prominent leaders. However, since then, the intervention of the RSS and a few senior leaders appears to have mollified the rebels.
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In another relief for the BJP, the BDJS, which has been unhappy about “unkept promises”, too seems to be willing to give the party some rope. On Monday, the BDJS’s Kottayam district committee had urged its state leadership to review the alliance with the BJP and join either the state’s ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) or the United Democratic Front (UDF), ahead of the local body elections and the Assembly polls next year. However, BDJS national president Thushar Vellappally has since said that there was no question of leaving the NDA at the moment.
“We are strongly with the NDA. There are a few issues in some district units, and we are in discussions to resolve them,” Vellappally told The Indian Express, adding the BJP has accommodated a number of their demands such as posts of Spices Board of India chairman, India Tourism Development Corporation director, and Rubber Board vice-chairman. “We are confident that the BJP would be honouring its promises in the future also.”
He added that the two parties also worked together on “policy matters”.
After the revamp of the state unit, next would be selection of the Kerala BJP chief, and party leaders said keeping community and gender balance would again be paramount.
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Among the frontrunners to replace Surendran is Shobha Surendran, an OBC Ezhava by caste, who are the vote bank of the BJDS, which could help the party consolidate the Hindu vote. Surendran is also close to the Vellapally family.
A party source in Kerala pointed out: “The CPI(M) has had the backing of a large section of the Ezhavas and other Hindu communities. Despite the BDJS being with us, the BJP has not been able to attract support from the community. If we have an Ezhava state chief who can work with the BDJS, we can draw good support.”
Another plus with Surendran is that she is a woman leader, which would be advantage BJP as neither the CPI(M) nor the Congress have ever had a woman at the helm in the state.
The BJP has already given good representation to the upper-caste Nairs, making its Thrissur winner Suresh Gopi a minister in the Union Cabinet. Among Christians, it has Rajya Sabha MP George Kurian. Ezhavas are thus top on its priority list to enlarge its base.