Efforts are on in the Kerala BJP, which is searching for programmes and alliances to make possible a phenomenal growth after the encouraging performance in the last lok Sabha election, to build a consensus on the criteria for identifying parties with which it can forge friendships.
The party is presently witnessing sharp differences of opinion on a suggestion to strike an alliance with the Kerala Congress (M), a party advocating settler farmers' causes and backed by Kerala's Catholic Church. led by State Finance Minister KM Mani as its chairman, the KC(M) is the third biggest constituent of the Congress-led ruling UDF.
Mani had the other day added fuel to this fire by indicating that his party was not averse to the idea of entering into friendship with the BJP provided honour for its political positions was guaranteed. State BJP president V Muraleedharan reacted rather acerbically to Mani's suggestion saying that there were not many areas where the two parties could agree on.
The heated debates on whether the KC(M) is fit to be made an ally are taking place in the BJP just when its national president Amit Shah is set to visit Kerala by the end of the month to finalize the strategies for strengthening the party and preparing it for the local bodies polls to be held next year and the Assembly election of 2016.
The debates on whether the KC(M) was acceptable to the BJP started just when the CPI(M), was trying to lure Mani into its net with the proposal that it could help him to become chief minister. The KC(M) has nine members in the Assembly and the lDF with 65 members in the 140-member House can topple the UDF regime with 75 MlAs if Mani switches sides.
The State BJP has witnessed arguments on the need of making regional parties like the KC(M) its allies to take on chief rivals Congress and communists, but the present round of feud follows an article that appeared in the pro-BJP newspaper, Janmabhumi, advising Mani indirectly to consider forming friendship with the BJP.
The article, titled Palayile Manikyam (Gem of Pala) in direct reference to Mani's native place Pala, advised the KC(M) to stop aligning alternately with the Congress and the CPI(M), as Mani had done in the past 50 years, and travel on a straight road, suggesting that it was high time he considered the option of aligning with the BJP.
"At present, there is a straight path before Mani. If he chooses to take that road, the national political scene will welcome Mani Sir (as he is popularly known), the 'Bhishmacharya' of Kerala politics, with extended hands," says the article written by K Kunhikkannan, resident editor of Janmabhumi.
State BJP chief Muraleedharan's reaction was quick. Recalling how Mani had switched sides between the left and the Congress in his political career and explaining why the KC(M) cannot be a BJP ally, he said, "Those who are speaking about the gem of Pala are trying to project a rusted coin as a diamond."
However, many others in the State BJP are refusing to share Muraleedharan's view. "PC Thomas belongs to the Kerala Congress family but he was a minister in the AB Vajpayee government. Mani Sir is a great leader of Kerala. The BJP has no enemies in politics. It has only political adversaries," State BJP general secretary AN Radhakrishnan said on Wednesday.
But Muraleedharan is not prepared to relent. In response to Mani's indication of his readiness to weigh options on the basis of political positions, Muraleedharan asked on Wednesday, "Which are the areas of convergence, Mani SirIJ Are you ready to change your positions on the various crucial issues like protection of the Western Ghats and Aranmula airportIJ"