Thiruvananthapuram: The V Muraleedharan faction has been dealt a double blow by the BJP and RSS in Kerala.
Close on the heels of state president VV Rajesh losing all party posts, general secretary K Surendran too has been removed from all the responsibilities of Yuva Morcha. Both Rajesh and Surendran are key leaders of the Muraleedharan faction.
The changes were announced by state party president Kummanam Rajasekharan at the state committee meeting at Alappuzha. General secretary MT Ramesh will replace K Surendran and will now lead Yuva Morcha in the state. Kummanam's announcement was unexpected and only the central leadership of the BJP and RSS were kept in the loop.
Interestingly, the party chose to promote Ramesh who was the target of the Muraleedharan faction in the medical college bribery scandal. Now, Ramesh will be in-charge of Yuva Morcha, apart from the party headquarters, Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha constituency and central Kerala, unofficially making him the number two in the party after Kummanam.
The revamp has been carried out to strengthen Yuva Morcha and Mahila Morcha on the directives of the central leadership, say party leaders. The central leadership wants the party to attract more women and youths into its fold. They also point out that party responsibilities are reshuffled every now and then.
Instead of Yuva Morcha, Surendran now gets the responsibility of Karshaka Morcha. Another general secretary AN Radhakrishnan has been made the in-charge of Minority Morcha and SC/ST Morcha. Radhakrishnan will oversee the party activities in the southern part of the state, while Surendran gets the responsibility of northern districts.
VV Rajesh had already been sidelined over the charges that he leaked the medical college bribery scandal enquiry report. The second blow comes at a time when the Muraleedharan faction was raising objections to the treatment meted out to Rajesh who was neither a member of the enquiry committee that looked into the scandal nor among the members who received the report.
Read: Latest Kerala news | Where is my daughter? Nimisha's mother meets NCW chief