Action against BJP leaders for 'trading' votes

By Our Staff Reporter

IDUKKI, MAY 12. The conflict of interests within the BJP which reached a flash point during the Assembly election appears to have come out in the open in its Idukki district unit with the official group initiating disciplinary action against some of the key figures in the leadership for their alleged role in trading of votes.

The four persons against whom action has been initiated are Mr. Gopi Pazhakkakulam, district secretary, Mr. P.S. Anil Kumar, Thodupuzha Assembly segment general secretary, Mr. T.S.Rajan, district vice-president, Yuva Morcha and Mr. N.V. Mohan Das of Kattappana. It has been initiated by Mr. M.N. Jayachandran, district president, who is party candidate from Thodupuzha.

Trading of votes has been one of the main charges against the party all through its existence of more than two decades in the State. In fact, the new strategy adopted by the present

party leadership is an extension of this policy, it has been pointed out.

The BJP State chief himself has many a time pointed out that while all these years they have been giving votes to one candidate or the other, this time around, they expect vote swapping. Based on this theory, the party would open its account in the Kerala Assembly, he said.

An accusing finger has always been pointed at the district and lower level leaders of the party regarding the issue of giving away votes to other candidates, even when the party candidates were in the fray at many places in the State. It is alleged that many a time the votes have been given way for a price.

The Idukki district unit chief of the BJP appears to be a victim of this tendency. When he contested from Thodupuzha in 1987, he polled 7.6 per cent of the votes, but last time, his share came down to a meagre 1.6 per cent. This time too, it is feared that the votes will not reflect the real growth of the party in the Assembly segment.

While three of the party functionaries have been ousted for anti-party activities in the Thodupuzha constituency, action against Mr. Mohan Das is for his alleged involvement in vote trading in the Idukki segment.

The rebels have already made it clear that they are not going to take it lying down. Nobody in the party has the right to raise an accusing finger against any one of the issue of vote trading, they point out.

Since the conflicting groups have powerful patrons within the Sangh Parivar, it is believed that rebellion in the party unit may spread and result in some ugly scenes in the coming days.

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Section  : State Elections
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