BJP rank and file unhappy over seat sharing in NDA

T'puram: BJP's first list of candidates and the seat sharing in NDA upset the party's rank and file. Many senior leaders said the leadership under Rajeev Chandrasekhar decided on seat sharing without consulting them.

There is also unrest among party functionaries over the first list of 47 candidates announced on Monday. "BJP is contesting in only three seats in Ernakulam. This is nothing but political suicide. Can't help if persons responsible for taking decisions consider consultations and criticism as insubordination," said a senior BJP leader.

BJP gave a majority of NDA's seats to Twenty 20, an anti-political entity established by businessman Sabu M Jacob. The senior leader claimed that giving a good number of seats in an urban district to a party that advocates corporate-style politics and governance would work against BJP's core strength as an urban political party.

Former state presidents Kummanam Rajasekharan and P S Sreedharan Pillai did not figure in the first list. Insiders said Rajasekharan wanted to contest in Nemom or Vattiyoorkavu but was ignored. President of Alappuzha south district, Sandeep Vachaspati, was expected to contest in Chengannur but BJP chose M V Gopakumar, who lost the previous block panchayat election. The list also triggered rumours that the move smacked of a secret understanding with CPM. BJP general secretary M T Ramesh and vice-president B Gopakumar were also left out of the first list.

Meanwhile, BJP cancelled the suspension of minority morcha leader Noble Mathew after he tendered an unconditional apology for protesting against the candidacy of Union minister George Kurian in Kanjirappally. Kamaraj Congress also protested against NDA for ignoring the party during seat sharing.