K Surendran's elevation as BJP state president, rather than giving the state unit a sense of purpose, has only intensified factional rivalry.
Top BJP sources said A N Radhakrishnan, who is now a general secretary, had told the party that he would not take up any post under Surendran. Onmanorama called up Radhakrishnan. He neither denied nor confirmed the news. “I am a disciplined party worker and, if at all I have anything to say, I would open up only before the party,” he said.
When he was told we were given the news by responsible office-bearers of his own party, Radhakrishnan said: “I won't deny nor confirm the information you have received.” Sources said more leaders of the P K Krishnadas faction, namely M T Ramesh and Sobha Surendran, are also in the mood to revolt.
Ramesh and Radhakrishnan were said to be dead against attending Surendran's official crowning ceremony on February 22 but some in the party said they were coaxed into coming by the central leadership. Even the central leadership's threats failed to work in Sobha Surendran's case. She did not attend. Kummanam Rajasekharan, though he doesn't to belong to any particular group, had also stayed away.
“This has never happened inside the BJP. Even if leaders and workers were unhappy with certain decisions earlier, it was usual for them to swallow their hurt once a decision is made,” a top leader said. The RSS, too, is said to be disillusioned with what an RSS pracharak called “petty egos” of leaders and had long before renounced its political role.
The Sangh did not even campaign for S Suresh during the Vattiyoorkavu Assembly byelections; Suresh came a distant third with a 10-plus per cent drop in the party's vote share in one of its strongest bases. The RSS had considered it an insult when Kummanam was pushed aside by the party to make way for Suresh in Vattiyoorkavu.
The RSS apathy and the non-cooperative stand of the Krishnadas faction is said to be retaliation for what has been termed the V Muraleedharan faction's unrestrained push to take complete control of the state unit. A source said that the Muraleedharan faction, using its leader's clout at the Centre, had even replaced candidates picked through a secret survey with its men.
As part of revamping the organisation, Kummanam Rajasekharan and BJP's national Council member L Ganesh had undertaken a secret survey across the state recently. These leaders visited a mandalam or block, talked to prominent workers in the area separately, and noted their preferences for mandalam president and secretary. In many places, the names recommended by the Kummanam-Ganesh duo after the secret survey was struck out in favour of Muraleedharan's favourites.
A source close to Muraleedharan said the party was only trying to pick “young and efficient” leaders. “We have to look at the future,” he said. A Krishnadas faction leader said Surendran's elevation was the least of its worries. “We are aware that he is comparatively junior and does not command the respect of majority of the BJP workers. But our fight is against the other faction's attempt to impose its will on the party,” the leader said.
What has worked in Muraleedharan's favour is, of course, his place in Narendra Modi's cabinet. He is Union Minister of State for External Affairs and Parliamentary Affairs. In fact, his clout flows more from his close rapport with the top leaders in BJP's central leadership.
“He was the national president of Akhil Bharathiya Vidhyarthi Parishad and most influential BJP leaders now had once worked with him in the ABVP. BJP national secretary B L Santhosh listens only to Muraleedharan. Muraleedharan was also vice chairman of Nehru Yuva Kendra when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was prime minister,” the source said.
Quite decisively, Muraleedharan also has the gift of language. “He is conversant in Hindi like no other leader in Kerala is. Muraleedharan has used this advantage to great effect,” the source said. He had pressed all his advantage to eventually crown his protege Surendran as the the BJP chief in Kerala.
His detractors in the party now want Muraleedharan cut to size.