The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Kerala unit has signalled a generational change in leadership with a higher representation of women, youth, Christians, Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) and backward-class communities in top organisational posts from the booth level and upwards.
At a press conference in Thrissur on Monday (January 27, 2025), BJP State president K. Surendran said the party’s nominees for district and booth committee presidents trended towards a younger demographic. Mr. Surendran said the BJP would also have Muslims in leadership positions.
However, he refused to hazard a guess on whether he would step down as BJP’s State president. Mr. Surendran averred that the State president’s selection was “the national leadership’s prerogative.”
‘Change inevitable’
“The CPI(M) and the Congress have a moribund and geriatric leadership that refuses to budge from power. In contrast, the BJP welcomes generational shifts, and leadership change is inevitable in a dynamic and constantly evolving political organisation”, he added.
Mr. Surendran dismissed media reports that the BJP’s Kerala unit was riven with factionalism. “The Muraleedharan group, Sobha Surendran group and P.K. Krishnadas faction are figments of feverish media imagination”, he added.
On BDJS question
Mr. Surendran appeared confident that the Bharath Dharma Jana Sena (BDJS), the SNDP Yogam’s political front, would remain in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) despite the predominantly backward-class party’s Kottayam district committee passing a resolution against continuing in the national alliance.
“The BDJS has an ideological empathy with the NDA. Moreover, BDJS leader Thushar Vellappally (SNDP Yogam vice-president) has made no such decision”, he added.
Palakkad ‘mutiny’
Mr. Surendran said expelled BJP leader Sandeep Varier’s “efforts to help” the Congress capture the Palakkad municipality by “stoking factionalism in the party’s district unit would not yield fruit.”
Mr. Surendran also indicated that the BJP had laid the groundwork for the impending local body polls campaign by creating 11-member committees in 18,000 of the State’s 24,000 electoral booths.
Each committee has a president and 11 members. The BJP set at least 500 primary party members as a prerequisite for initiating a booth committee. Women headed 30% of the BJP electoral booth committees.
Mr. Surendran conceded that the BJP has little influence in 60% of electoral booths in Malappuram, 10% in Kasaragod (10%), and about 30% in Kannur.
The BJP has divided Kerala’s electoral maps into 30 “district zones.” Its nominees for the district zone president posts included 34 women, 14 leaders from the Christian community, 34 leaders of Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes, and members of the Nair and Ezhava communities. “Neither the CPI(M) nor the Congress has a woman as district president”, he noted.
Mr. Surendran said many processes informed the nomination procedure. The party emphasised grassroots-level connections with voters, leadership qualities, and communication and oratory skills. Caste, community and age demographics also had a bearing.
