BJP state president Kummanam Rajasekharan has termed the elevation of party leader from the state Alphons Kannanthanam as a union minister as an Onam gift to Kerala but the move has evidently caught the state BJP leadership unawares though they are not willing to admit it openly.
BJP sources told that Mr Rajasekaharan and M. Ganesh, organising general secretary in the state BJP leadership, were in New Delhi on Friday were not aware of it Mr Kannanthanam’s ascension until the latter called up the state unit president late on Saturday night after he got the call from the Prime Minister’s Office confirming his appointment as a union minister.
The BJP office in the capital was a deserted place when its nominee was being made a minister in the Union government with important portfolios. The explanation given by the state BJP leadership is that all the staff members have gone to their homes on the eve of Onam. But this explains the fact that the party had no clues on the development as well as its own idea about the assessment of the central leadership on the state party.
“It should be recalled that the state BJP leadership was kept in the dark when Suresh Gopi was nominated to the Rajya Sabha and Richard Hay to the Lok Sabha,” a senior party leader told DC. “So Mr Kannanthanam’s appointment as union minister of State for tourism and IT with independent charges does not come as a surprise to many.”
However, a former BJP state president told DC that Mr Kannanthanam always preferred to be based in New Delhi and has never shown any interest to remain as a regional level politician. He, however, attended state-level meetings whenever he was invited, he said.
“Mr Kannanthanam’s appointment will keep the BJP in good stead as it is well known about his close ties with all Christian bishops ranging from Baselios Cardinal Cleemis Catholicos, Catholic Bishop Council of India president, Cardinal Mar George Alencherry, Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, Archdiocese of Thrissur, Jacobite, Orthodox to Pentecostal church,” said another former BJP state president. BJP sources also told DC that the ploy of BJP national president Amit Shah is to cosy up to the Catholic church through Mr Kannanthanam who hails from Kanjirapally (his former Assembly constituency) which has got a sizable population of Syrian Christians.
At present, Mr Kannanthanam is not a member of either House of Parliament and the BJP will have to bring him to the Rajya Sabha. Party sources said there are one vacancy each in Goa when Manohar Parrikar returned there as chief minister and in Karnataka when M. Venkaiah Naidu was elected Vice-President and the party may consider him in one of those seats.
