Can PP Mukundan emerge as voice of sulking BJP worker?

The seemingly never-ending delay in finalising the candidates' list, the immodest demands made by lateral entrants like Alphons Kannamthanam and the red carpet welcome accorded to aggrieved former Congressmen have caused severe unrest in the BJP rank and file. Former organisation heavyweight P P Mukundan is attempting to emerge as the spokesperson for the discontented BJP worker.

"The party leadership has failed to understand the mind of the ordinary party worker," said Mukundan, who has been kept at an arm's distance by the top state leadership ever since he returned to the party in 2016. Mukundan did attempt to engineer a revolt by threatening to stand as a Shiv Sena candidate in Thiruvananthapuram. He had met the BJP and RSS workers in the constituency before he made the threat.

Now, after Kummanam Rajasekharan's entry, Mukundan has had a change of mind. "Now that Kummanam is here, I don't want to spoil his chances," he said.

Nonetheless, he is livid at the new trends in the party. "How can someone like Alphons Kannamthanam, who was given a cabinet post not because he toiled for the party but only as a favour, insist on getting the Pathanamthitta seat. He is bound to abide by what the organisation says. His haughty manner is an insult to the state and central leadership. Not even senior BJP leaders who had sacrificed everything for the party would behave like this," Mukundan said.

Mukundan's flat on the 13th floor of an apartment in Thiruvananthapuram is frequented by ordinary BJP workers. "What I understand is that ordinary workers are fed up with this virtually open bickering for a parliamentary seat. They could have easily decided on the seats way before without letting it deteriorate into such an unseemly spectacle. The leadership seems to have no control whatsoever," he said.

Mukundan also finds it hard to stomach the sight of disgruntled elements in other parties being ushered to important posts in the party. "The state leadership should be under no illusion that the workers are happy to witness the special treatment granted to Congress deserters like Tom Vadakkan and Raman Pillai," he said. "None of them, Vadakkan or Pillai or Radhakrishnan (former PSC chairman K S Radhakrishnan), will secure an extra 10 votes for the party. Still, they are treated like royalty. It looks as if the martyrdom of hundreds of party workers have gone to waste," he added.

Mukundan also speaks of a leadership freeze in the party. "During my time there were just three tall leaders. K G Marar, Raman Pillai and O Rajagopal. Now look at the numbers. You cannot walk around a place without bumping into a BJP leader. They could emerge as leaders only because they were given chances," Mukundan said.

He also wants Vellappally Natesan to be shown his place. "He keeps changing his opinion like a pedestal fan that swings from one end to the other. He freely badmouths the BJP. This has caused deep resentment among workers and the leadership has done nothing to assuage their pride," Mukundan said.

Senior BJP leaders Onmanorama talked to said Mukundan was indeed a highly respected leader. "He is still an iconic figure within the organisation. And it is also true that BJP workers are unhappy for a long list of reasons. Yet, Mukundettan is past the age when he could have been the rallying force for BJP workers," a senior leader said.

He is not the mighty figure he once used to be either. "The man is a natural attention-grabber," a senior leader said. Now, illness has diminished him. When Onmanorama met him at his apartment on Wednesday, he was just back home from a bout of hospitalisation. "There was a time a single look from Mukundettan was enough to quell a simmering dispute within the party," a leader said.

Yet another leader said the RSS has completely taken over the campaign of Kummanam that even the little influence that Mukundan had over workers in the constituency had been neutralised. "This is also why he decided against contesting as a rebel. No BJP member worth his salt would cross the line drawn by the RSS. Mukundettan is not in the good books of the RSS," the leader said.

And nearly 12 years ago, before the Modi phenomenon struck, he became persona non grata for the BJP. The man who had close links with stalwarts like A B Vajpayee and L K Advani was BJP's state organising secretary till 2005. He had quit the party in 2006 citing "differences of opinion". Though it has been three years since he returned, the party has not found it necessary to put him in any responsible position.