THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: BJP
state president
K Surendran assumed office on Saturday. Expressing his unflinching faith in BJP’s
potential
to emerge as a strong third political alternative in the next few years, Surendran said he would be least interested in building up a Surendran faction in the party.
Surendran was accorded a warm welcome by hundreds of
BJP workers assembled in front of Thiruvananthapuram Central railway station this morning. Garlanded with marigold flowers, Surendran was taken to BJP state office in an open vehicle.
“People, even those who are not BJP members or sympathisers, have started thinking aloud about the need for a third alternative front against the
LDF
and
UDF
which are wreathed in corruption. There lies ahead a perfect chance for the growth of BJP. One among every six persons who walk in the road in Kerala is a BJP man. Now, its a party that gets 30 lakh votes and has a vote share of 16%. I am grateful to the good work done by my predecessors who occupied this chair before me and I am well aware of the expectations the BJP workers and the general public have on BJP,” Surendran said.
“Communal terrorists have overpowered the LDF. The graft in police department was not limited to state police chief. It was a scam carried out with the concurrence of chief minister’s office. The UDF and LDF were engaged in compromise politics,” he said.
Union minister and BJP former state president V Muraleedharan said it was the first time a popular leader was chosen to lead the party in Kerala. BJP former president P K Krishnadas, former state organizing general secretary P P Mukundan, senior leader O Rajagopal, national secretary H Raja, former state president C K Padmanabhan and state spokesperson M S Kumar spoke.
Those who were conspicuous by their absence were former state president Kummanam Rajasekharan, general secretary Sobha Surendran and spokesperson B Gopalarishnan. Though M T Ramesh and A N Radhakrishnan attended the function, they did not occupy seats on the stage.
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