A few defections to BJP ahead of PM’s visit to State

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday welcomed an arguably motley group of disgruntled elements from the Congress to its fold. Notably, the latest desertions came on the eve of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s fifth campaign foray into Kerala this year.

Mr. Modi is scheduled to address an election rally on Friday in Pathanamthitta, where Congress defec

Padmini Thomas

tor Anil K. Antony is fighting under the BJP banner.

The Congress members who joined the BJP at a function here have a relatively less prominent public profile than Mr. Antony and Padmaja Venugopal, children of former Congress Chief Ministers, who defected to the BJP earlier.

Asiad medallist

The latest Congress deserters to the BJP include Padmini Thomas, the 1982 Asian Games medallist and Arjuna Award winner, and former municipal councillor Thampanoor Satheesh. Ms. Thomas was president of the Kerala State Sports Council in a former Congress disposition.

For his part, Mr. Satheesh recently accused the KPCC of sidelining and excluding him from essential party posts. Mr. Satheesh, a staunch Karunakaran group insider, is widely reckoned to be a Ms. Venugopal loyalist.

‘Prize catch’

The BJP reportedly viewed Mr. Satheesh as a prize catch in Thiruvananthapuram, given his grassroots connection with constituents and ordinary Congress workers.

Importantly for the BJP, Ms. Thomas and Mr. Satheesh hail from the Christian and Nair communities respectively. Union Minister of State for IT and BJP candidate in Thiruvananthapuram Rajeev Chandrasekhar welcomed the Congress leaders to the party.

Vishnupuram Chandrasekharan, a BJP leader and chairperson of the Vaikunda Swamy Dharma Pracharana Sabha, a politically influential backward class social organisation, was also present. BJP State president K. Surendran claimed that Aam Aadmi Party, Democratic Youth Federation of India, and CPI(M) workers had also defected to the party. He said the Congress was on the decline and more workers would join the BJP.

Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee acting president M.M. Hassan said the BJP had collected lustreless, ageing, and unpolished brass artefacts as political trophies for Mr. Modi.