Every senior Kerala BJP leader wants state president post. Infighting already cost Palakkad

BJP President JP Nadda and the party’s Kerala state president K Surendran at a rally | ANI

We will not spare any reporter who did injustice to the party and will directly deal with such people”, Bhartiya Janata Party Kerala state president K Surendran lashed out at the media after being ridiculed for his tall claims on the Palakkad by-election. In what was clearly a case of barking up the wrong tree, Surendran seemed to take the loss personally, after steering the Palakkad campaign. Surendran had gone out on a limb to ensure the candidature of his lieutenant C Krishnakumar on the BJP ticket, which turned out to be a contentious choice in the aftermath of the humiliating loss.

Split wide open

BJP national council member and veteran leader N Sivarajan and the Palakkad municipal chairperson Pramila Sasidharan publicly questioned Krishnakumar’s candidature in the wake of the results. Even V Muraleedharan, the former minister of state for external affairs and Surendran’s mentor, seemed to throw the latter under the bus when he passed the buck on the loss in Palakkad. Although BJP’s state in-charge Prakash Javadekar came to Surendran’s rescue. His post on X suggested that the state president would stay put. But party insiders insisted otherwise as organisational polls are underway.

And that is assumed to be the reason behind the tactical silence of Sobha Surendran, the 48-year-old fiery leader, among the prime contenders to replace Surendran as state president. She’s challenged Surendran’s leadership on many an earlier occasion, after being kept out of the state BJP’s core committee. Other frontrunners include MT Ramesh and V Muraleedharan. Sobha Surendran was also an aspirant to the Palakkad seat, and an overwhelming favourite among the BJP cadres for the contested candidature.

Loss in Palakkad

The BJP’s loss in Palakkad in itself may not have come as a shock, but the sheer magnitude of it – despite running the Congress close in the preceding 2021 assembly polls – rankled the party rank-and-file. C Krishnakumar may not have been expected to pull off what ‘Metro Man’ E Sreedharan could not accomplish, but with BJP clearly on the ascendant, the party was expected to do much better than finish a distant second, trailing Rahul Mamkootathil of the Congress by about 18,000 votes.

Failure to prevent Sandeep Varier switching over to the Congress on the eve of the Palakkad by-election has been attributed to Surendran’s overconfidence. Varier, himself an aspirant to the Palakkad ticket on account of compelling caste equations, could have been placated to remain in the party as per Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) sources. Regardless of any vote erosion on account of the desertion, Varier’s switch is being interpreted as having given the Congress a huge advantage when it came to perception.

From being denied the opportunity to deliver the welcome speech at the BJP convention in Palakkad for Krishnakumar to failing to act in time to pacify the sulking Varier, K Surendran and his faction managers such as C Raghunath and Narayanan Namboothiri have been blamed for the fiasco.

Faction-ridden Kerala BJP

Much like the Congress in Kerala, the state BJP unit is also bedevilled with infighting. For much of the last two decades, the party has been split between the PK Krishnadas faction and the V Muraleedharan faction. PK Krishnadas is a former state BJP president (2006-09), and has been outmanoeuvred by the V Muraleedharan faction completely over the past few years. Sobha Surendran leads a splinter group of the PK Krishnadas faction.

In fact, K Surendran’s appointment as president in 2020 was actually facilitated by the active lobbying of Muraleedharan. Meanwhile, PK Krishnadas’ stock has diminished so much that even Sobha Surendran and MT Ramesh have charted their own independent courses. However, there has been a recent twist to the faction-ridden state BJP.

It is being speculated that V Muraleedharan, now divested of his ministry and whose Rajya Sabha term has also come to an end, is seeking a plum role as national general secretary, failing which he would throw his hat into the ring to replace Surendran as state BJP president. Such an event would test the individual loyalties of the leaders close to both Muraleedharan and Surendran, as they have been part of the same faction until now.

Speaking to the press at Munambam, Muraleedharan ruled out being an aspirant for the state job. However, leaders close to him testify otherwise. Muraleedharan also suffered a recent setback when he was not nominated in the BJP delegation to visit the Vatican for the Ordination of Cardinal George Koovakad despite enlisting his interest to lead the team, with Rajeev Chandrasekhar being preferred instead.

Surendran’s fate hangs in the balance

Meanwhile, Surendran wants to remain state president until the 2026 Assembly polls. Though his term came to an end in February 2023, an ad-hoc arrangement due to the Lok Sabha polls meant that he stayed on. He was not offered a second consecutive term, which would have ensured his continuation until 2026. That leaves his fate in the balance.

Surendran draws his power from the solid backing of BL Santhosh, BJP’s national general secretary-in-charge, apart from having been part of the V Muraleedharan faction. Muraleedharan’s need to find a perch – unless he is made national general secretary – would complicate things for Surendran.

Muraleedharan’s experience in New Delhi and the goodwill he earned over the years might ensure that he could prevail over Surendran if it came to conflicting ambitions. Muraleedharan is also known to be close to the RSS general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale, apart from JP Nadda and Dharmendra Pradhan.

Factional realignments?

It is under such circumstances that the tactical silence of Sobha Surendran – who is known for shooting her mouth off on occasions – is being keenly watched. The recent camaraderie between longtime rivals Surendran and Sobha Surendran is rumoured to be a result of Muraleedharan’s renewed interest in state politics. “Why does Muraleedharan camp in Kerala for most of the days when he has charge elsewhere?” asked a leader close to Sobha Surendran, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

However, leaders hailing from the near-defunct PK Krishnadas faction believe Sobha Surendran is being taken for a ride. “V Muraleedharan and K Surendran are playing a game to keep the key position to themselves if the central leadership were to effect a change and Sobha as usual will be left disappointed,” a state-level leader told me. The Krishnadas faction is likely to back MT Ramesh for the state BJP leadership.

Ramesh’s chances, though, suffered a setback when former BJP state secretary AK Nazeer, a member of a party-appointed inquiry commission into a bribe case involving the former in 2017 made a revelation that he was indeed compromised. It is assumed that fellow aspirants to the president’s post are behind the interview.

As for the caste equations, all the above contenders hail from the OBC grouping, which would place them on an equal footing.

Withdrawal of RSS

So, what changed within the state BJP barely six months after the conclusion of the Lok Sabha polls? One major factor affecting the balance of power in the state unit is the decision of the RSS to withdraw its general secretary K Subhash in the aftermath of the successful election, when the BJP managed to open its account in the state through Suresh Gopi.

“K Subhash was low-key but effective. He managed to carry everyone along and never publicly differed with the state president. His departure has altered the power equilibrium within the BJP state unit,” a prominent BJP leader in the state told me. Subhash is assumed to have given up on account of factional rivalries getting out of hand, and the decision of the RSS to give more space to the BJP to grow on its own.

However, this is a double-edged sword for the state BJP unit, having worked as an extension of the RSS in the state in the past. The RSS has a huge network of shakhas in Kerala, and its sudden withdrawal from being the arbiter of internal conflicts has left the BJP in a free-for-all situation. Another factor that dissuades the RSS from becoming too involved in the BJP is the spate of controversies and charges of financial misappropriation.

Palace intrigues

The state unit of the BJP will officially take stock of the Palakkad loss this week in the presence of Prakash Javadekar and co-in-charge Aparajita Sarangi.

That the BJP is set to lose power in Pandalam – the only municipality in Kerala ruled by the party apart from Palakkad – will also be discussed. Although internal feuds and festering issues not getting resolved on time are reasons for the fiasco, the fact that C Krishnakumar held the charge for Pandalam would also get highlighted.

The organisational poll underway is expected to conclude by the end of the month and it will be left to the Centre to take a call on the new president. The palace intrigues in the state unit shall continue until then. K Surendran is hoping against hope that he will get an extension until 2026. However, he isn’t doing any favours to himself by going on a rampage against the media and repeatedly issuing threats.

Anand Kochukudy is a Kerala-based journalist and columnist. He tweets @AnandKochukudy. Views are personal.

(Edited by Theres Sudeep)