In a big blow to the CPI(M) in Kannur, Kerala’s Marxist heartland, 407 partymen on Sunday left the organisation and joined the BJP. In a district-level function organised in Kannur, a total of 568 people from CPI(M), CPI, Congress, Kerala Congress (B) and Janadhipathya Samara-kshana Samithi joined the BJP.
Those who joined the BJP at the function included six CPI men including a former branch secretary, 39 men from the congress, 116 persons from the JSS and three members of the Kerala Congress (B), an ally of the Congress in the ruling UDF. There was a former CPI(M) branch secretary among the Marxists who joined the BJP, party leaders said.
Former State BJP president PK Krishnadas, who inaugurated the function, said his party would organise such programmes across the State in the coming days and people from the left parties would flow into the BJP. A minimum of 25,000 people had left other parties to join the BJP since the 16th lok Sabha polls, he claimed.
Krishnadas said that the Marxists who joined the BJP on Sunday were people who saw their legendary late leader AK Gopalan in Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He added that the BJP kept no enmity towards the ordinary workers of other parties including the CPI(M) as they were destined to reach the BJP sooner or later. State BJP general secretary K Surendran said what had happened in Kannur was just a beginning and more would leave the CPI(M) to join his party after Amit Shah’s visit to Kerala on August 1.