Money heist: BJP Kerala unit in crisis mode

After smarting from the current Assembly ballot debacle in Kerala, the State unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party is seemingly going through its worst crisis in the type of the Kodakara cash heist case.

The back-to-back defeats, together with in the three-tier native physique polls, have now prompted the BJP central management to plan some methods to wriggle the State unit out of the twin-mess.

The BJP seems to be in search of a protagonist in Kerala.

The Kodakara cash heist pertained to a freeway theft, allegedly of ₹3.5 crore, that occurred in Kodakara city, close to Chalakudy, in Thrissur on April 3, three days earlier than the Kerala Assembly elections.

For ballot marketing campaign

Preliminary investigations by the police revealed that the hawala cash was meant for election marketing campaign. So far, the police have recovered ₹1.12 crore, and 347 grams of gold ornaments bought utilizing the black cash.

Earlier BJP nationwide president J.P. Nadda had tasked three retired bureaucrats intently related to the social gathering — C.V. Ananda Bose, E. Sreedharan and Jacob Thomas —to submit separate reviews to the Central management, together with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, on the state of affairs in the social gathering. They have been requested to inquire into the erosion in the social gathering’s vote share and the allegations of misuse of funds allotted for the Assembly elections. Mr. Bose had already submitted his report, sources stated.

Never earlier than in the historical past of the BJP a State unit of the social gathering has gone via a humiliation of dropping its public picture and the social gathering rank and file enduring the ignominy of being let down by its management. Unlike the bitter factional feuds in the social gathering throughout organisational or State polls, the hawala situation was one thing onerous to abdomen for the Central management. Incidentally, BJP State organisational secretary M. Ganeshan was questioned in reference to the case.

Sources stated {that a} part of the Central management together with its mother or father physique the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has desired a complete revamp of the State unit whereas one other group has urged to switch the capabilities of the State leaders with a de facto nationwide chief on the helm of the social gathering until the prevailing tenure of current State president K. Surendran concluded in 2023.

Groups against Mr. Surendran, who belongs to the faction led by Union Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan, have overtly and covertly demanded his removing from the put up. They have identified the unceremonious removing of former social gathering chiefs P.S. Sreedharan Pillai and Kummanam Rajashekaran for his or her dismal performances.

Weak organisational set-up

A senior functionary stated that the weak organisational construction resulted in the decline of the vote share of the social gathering in 90-odd Assembly segments. This was just like the scenario in the 1991 Assembly elections. The marketing campaign blitzkrieg via rallies and public conferences of its nationwide leaders didn’t translate into votes.

Besides, sources stated that Mr. Surendran contesting from two Assembly segments — Manjeswaram and Konni — and irresponsible statements by leaders holding official positions adversely impacted the social gathering’s probabilities on the hustings.