BJP’s attempts to poach CPI(M) discontents in Kerala remains an elusive holy grail
The Hindu
BJP in Kerala aims to attract CPI(M) defectors, with former legislator S. Rajendran's potential defection making headlines.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)‘s Kerala unit has attracted a motley crew of disaffected Congress leaders and workers to its fold. However, the elusive political holy grail for the BJP is a defection from the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] to its side.
The BJP has left no stone unturned to break the jinx and gain a propaganda advantage over the CPI(M) at the 2024 Lok Sabha election hustings.
The BJP’s Kerala in-charge, Prakash Javadekar, put the political rumour mill on overdrive by hosting S. Rajendran, former CPI(M) legislator from Idukki district, at the party’s national headquarters in New Delhi on March 20 (Wednesday).
Mr. Rajendran, who returned to Idukki on March 21 (Thursday), told local reporters that he would campaign for the Left Democratic Front (LDF). He claimed that he had gone to New Delhi to raise the issues faced by plantation workers when someone invited him to meet Mr. Javadekar. He said the impromptu exchange of pleasantries held “no political ramifications.”
Mr. Rajendran, a well-known and controversial figure in Idukki politics, has deep pockets of influence among Tamil-speaking people in the Devikulam, Peermade, and Udumbanchola areas. Plantation workers and their families form the bulk of his supporters.
Mr. Rajendran was elected to the Kerala Legislative Assembly from the Devikulam constituency in 2006, 2011, and 2016.
The CPI(M) ousted him from the party in 2022 on the charge of plotting to scuttle A. Raja’s chances in the 2021 Assembly polls.
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