Thiruvananthapuram: G Raman Nair, who was president of the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) that administers several temples in south Kerala, has joined the Bharatiya Janata Party along with four other noted personalities in the state.
ISRO former chairman G Madhavan Nair, state women’s commission former member J Prameela Devi, Malankara Church functionary C Thomas John and Janata Dal (Secular) district vice-president Karakulam Divakaran are the other four.
At a function here on Saturday evening, BJP national president Amit Shah greeted the new members. Raman Nair will be given his deserving place in the party, Shah announced.
Nair said that his stand on the ongoing controversy over the entry of women in Sabarimala temple went against that of the Congress, leading to his exit from that party. “I will go ahead with my stand,” he informed Shah, who responded saying the BJP-led Centre will support the stir to 'retain tradition' at the famed hill-shrine.
The Kerala unit of the BJP has sought the party national leadership’s permission in holding a demonstration over the Sabarimala issue from Kasaragod to Pamba, the base camp of hill shrine. A long march the BJP held earlier this month from the state capital up to Pandalam was a success, the BJP leaders claimed.
Shah also directed a check on possible desertion of constituents of the BJP-led right-wing political alliance, NDA. He also sought the increased participation of the SNDP in the Sabarimala stir and continued interaction with its leader Vellappally Natesan.
The weekend saw Shah holding talks with members of the Pandalam royal family and Sabarimala Action council besides former state DGP T P Senkumar. In the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections next year, the BJP chief also had talks with party state president P S Sreedharan Pillai, V Muraleedharan MP and BJP national council member P K Krishnadas.