E-Paper
Former CPI(M) MLA joins BJP
Former CPI(M) MLA S Rajendran joined BJP in Kerala, citing a desire to address issues in the plantation sector ahead of assembly elections.
Former Communist Party of India (Marxist) MLA S Rajendran on Sunday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram ahead of the assembly elections.
The southern state is expected to go to polls in the first half of this year to elect 140 members of the legislative assembly.
Rajendran won thrice as the Left party candidate in the Devikulam assembly constituency in Idukki district in 2006, 2011 and 2016 elections. In the 2021 assembly polls, the Left overlooked Rajendran in favour of A Raja, who went on to win the constituency.
In 2022, Rajendran was suspended from the party for a year for actively working against the party’s interests in the previous year’s polls. However, he was never reinstated into the party and Rajendran too, did not renew his membership. People familiar with the matter said relations between Rajendran and the CPI(M) have been estranged since his suspension.
After joining the BJP on Sunday, the former CPM MLA said he intended to use the party’s influence to find solutions to the pressing problems faced by the people in the plantation sector in Devikulam. The popular hill station of Munnar falls in Devikulam constituency.
“It was clear that the CPI(M) had left the door open for my exit. I had requested them not to harm me. I have not set any personal conditions to join the BJP,” he said.
State BJP chief Rajeev Chandrasekhar, who welcomed Rajendran into the party, said: “Doors are open for every leader interested in Viksit Kerala. I’m very happy today to welcome Rajendran ji and, along with him to the BJP because they came in and, as he spoke today, they are frustrated that for years they have not able to solve people’s problems because the government is apathetic, the CPM government, Congress governments are apathetic, they cannot do it.”
NEED CPI(M) REACTION
