Ahead of the November 20 Palakkad Assembly bypoll, dissident Kerala BJP leader Sandeep G Varier on Saturday joined the Congress party. He was welcomed by senior Congress leaders, including Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president K Sudhakaran and Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan, at the party office in Palakkad.
During a press conference, Varier, expressing his decision to join Congress, said, “I am taking a membership in the shop of love.”
He further criticised the BJP, stating that his mistake was expecting support from an organisation that promotes only hate, accusing BJP state president K Surendran of being the reason for his exit from the party.
Varier explained that he was frustrated with the constant compromises between BJP leadership and Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, particularly after his opposition to the Karuvannur co-operative bank scam. He claimed that the BJP abandoned him for his stance on the issue. “K Surendran and his team are the sole reason I joined Congress”, he said. The idea of Congress is the idea of India, Varier added, making it clear that his shift was driven by ideological differences with the BJP.
The BJP had come second in the Palakkad constituency in the 2021 and 2016 Assembly elections. In 2021, BJP’s candidate E Sreedharan, known as the ‘Metro Man’, lost to Congress’s Shafi Parambil by a narrow margin of 3,859 votes.
In response to Varier’s exit, K Surendran, BJP state president, dismissed any potential impact, stating that Varier’s departure would not affect the party’s prospects.
Earlier this month, Varier had announced his decision not to campaign for BJP’s candidate, C Krishnakumar, for the upcoming bypoll. He had raised a banner of protest, citing feelings of “humiliation” and alleging that he had been consistently sidelined by the party, even during campaign events.
The Palakkad bypoll, which was originally scheduled for November 13, was postponed to November 20 by the Election Commission, citing the Kalpathi Ratholsavam festival. The bypoll was triggered after Congress MLA Shafi Parambil vacated the seat following his election to the Lok Sabha from Vadakara.
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