240 CPI(M) members join BJP
The Hindu:
WARM WELCOME: BJP State unit president V. Muraleedharan greets CPI(M)
members who joined the party at a function in Thiruvananthapuram on
Tuesday. Photo:S. Gopakumar
A majority of those who defected to the BJP are from Varkala, Kallambalam, Navaikulam, Kazhakuttam, Attipra, and Chirayinkeezhu
More than 240 members of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)]
on Tuesday parted ways with the party and joined the Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP).
The members, including area committee members of the district unit of
the CPI(M) and those holding posts in the Centre of Indian Trade Unions
(CITU), joined the BJP at a function held at the party State
headquarters at Thycaud here.
BJP State unit president V. Muraleedharan welcomed the CPI(M) leaders by
handing over the membership card to Alamcode Dhanaseelan, who was a
member of the CPI(M) Varkala area committee.
A majority of those who defected to the BJP are from Varkala,
Kallambalam, Navaikulam, Kazhakuttam, Attipra, and Chirayinkeezhu, a BJP
leader said.
Mr. Muraleedharan said the decision by the members to leave the party
showed the “ideological disarray” in the CPI(M), and the growing
acceptance of the BJP in the State.The BJP, he said, had sensed the
antipathy within the CPI(M) immediately after the Lok Sabha polls as
several of its active members had voted for the BJP candidates.
The CPI(M) had “lost its relevance” as most of its leaders had moved
away from the party’s core ideological moorings, he said. This drift had
created disgruntlement among its committed workers.
“Such dissatisfied members are looking to the BJP. The party will
continue to raise issues concerning the poor and the tribal people,” he
said. The BJP leader criticised the Congress for its involvement in
various scams.
