Kerala meet: BJP leaders spar over graft charges

THRISSUR: The BJP state-level office-bearers' meeting held in Thrissur on Monday witnessed serious debates on the recent charges of corruption the party was facing.
Some sections in the state BJP demanded that the party-level disciplinary actions must not be confined to those who had allegedly leaked the party probe report into the medical college recognition scam.
They demanded that action must be taken against the real perpetrators of the alleged corrupt deals in the name of wresting recognitions for the medical colleges.
These sections also alleged that the party must seriously address the public perception that indiscipline has risen in the party after Kummanam Rajasekharan assumed the office of the state party chief.
However, the rival faction demanded that action should not be confined to leaders like former state secretary V V Rajesh but other leaders who had connived in the 'leakage of the probe report' too.
But discussions did not lead to any specific decision barring that the party leadership advised the leaders who had probed the medical college scam to cooperate with the vigilance probe by excluding the name of leaders like M T Ramesh.
The leadership then carefully directed the discussions on the march to be led by Kummanam Rajasekharan. Former state president V Muraleedharan was selected as the coordinator of the march to create an impression of unity within the party.
Muraleedharan, who briefed the reporters after the meeting, declined to answer any questions on the meet. He said the media should ask the party leaders responsible for answering such questions.
Muraleedharan said that BJP state president Kummanam Rajasekharan would lead a march from Payyannur to Thiruvananthapuram from September 7 to 23 as part of the campaign against the 'violent politics' being practised by CPM in Kerala.
Muraleedharan said BJP national president Amit Shah, Union ministers and various national leaders of the party will take part in the march.