BJP central leadership backs Surendran amid outcry for his resignation as Kerala chief

Thiruvananthapuram: Amid the calls for BJP state president K Surendran's resignation over the party's defeat in the bypolls, the central leadership asserted that nobody would resign from the party.  Taking to social media platform X, senior BJP leader and party's in-charge Kerala, Prakash Javadekar said that the party leadership did not seek Surendran's resignation.

Rejecting reports that Surendran had expressed a willingness to quit taking moral responsibility for the defeat in Palakkad, considered one of its strongholds in Kerala, the BJP accused the CPM-led LDF and the Congress-led UDF of "spreading rumours." "Nobody is resigning neither party has sought anybody's resignation. I think this will settle the matter," Javadekar, said in a post on 'X'.

Amid facing criticism over BJP's defeat in the bypolls, it was rumoured that K Surendran is likely to step down as the party state president. The party state committee will meet on Tuesday in Ernakulam to discuss the poll debacle. A group within the party reported that Surendran would resign from the president's post. However, the pro-Surendran group claimed that he will lead the party in the local body elections too.

Manorama News reported that the defeat of C Krishnakumar in the Palakkad assembly byelection triggered turmoil within the party. Palakkad municipal chairperson Prameela Sasidharan also criticised the BJP leadership and Krishnakumar over the election. Talking to Manorama News, Prameela claimed that  Krishnakumar was Surendran's nominee. She added that voters were disappointed with Krishnakumar's candidacy and some of them even questioned her about the party's wrong choice.

“ Some people asked me why did not BJP field any good candidate for the election. I had informed the displeasure of the voters to the leadership. But Surendran wanted to field Krishnakumar,” said Prameela.

Some leaders alleged that Surendran's unilateral decisions in candidacy and election campaign strategy led to poll debacle.