Recently, there was a revelation surrounding a meeting between Prakash Javadekar, the Kerala BJP Prabhari and former Union Minister, and EP Jayarajan, a senior Communist leader and Convenor of Kerala-ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF).
This meeting, which took place about a year ago at Jayarajan’s son’s residence, went unnoticed until Sobha Surendran, a leader of the Kerala BJP and candidate for the Alappuzha Constituency, decided to disclose it during the heat of the election season.
This disclosure prompted Jayarajan to acknowledge the meeting on the day of the election, admitting that Javadekar had indeed visited his son’s house accompanied by TG Nandakumar, a middleman.
He explained that he was stepping out for another engagement and instructed his son to attend to Javadekar with a cup of tea.
Following Jayarajan's admission, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, a prominent figure in the Communist Party, swiftly reacted, suggesting a potential political fallout from the incident. Pinarayi did not hold back, directly blaming Jayarajan for his careless choice of friends.
Subsequently, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) convened a meeting and opted for a restrained approach regarding Jayarajan's meeting debacle. The party came out in support of Jayarajan. In a Facebook post, State Secretary M V Govindan addressed the media controversy surrounding the meeting that took place a year ago.
“Meeting with other party leaders is a common occurrence. Jayarajan has himself stated that he believes there's a coordinated effort against him. The party views the current situation as unfair and has authorised Jayarajan to pursue legal action against those responsible. The party cannot restrict anyone's right to meet or consult with others,” the post read.
With the party's endorsement, Jayarajan issued a legal notice on Tuesday against Sobha, Nandakumar, and Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) President K Sudhakaran. Sudhakaran himself was entangled in the controversy on and before polling day. Jayarajan demands the withdrawal of allegations and a public apology through the media. The legal notice adds that failure to comply will result in civil and criminal consequences, along with a fine of Rs 2 crore being paid by Sobha, Nandakumar, and Sudhakaran.
Meanwhile, the party's Facebook post refutes the claim that Jayarajan met Sobha in the presence of Nandakumar to discuss joining the BJP, emphasising Jayarajan's unwavering loyalty to the party for over 60 years. It highlights an incident in 1995 when BJP workers attempted to assassinate him, suggesting that the allegations against him are politically motivated.
Sobha had revealed details of Jayarajan's "meeting" during a heated verbal exchange with Nandakumar regarding a controversial land deal. Nandakumar had been alleging that Sobha had taken Rs 10 lakh from him in a questionable land deal, which she has not returned.
While Nandakumar has been disclosing the timings of the Jayarajan-Javadekar meeting, Javadekar has remained tight-lipped.
Interestingly, on 29 April, Javedkar even wrote on X that he had not given any interview to any media on the raging controversy in Kerala. He didn’t even mention a single word on what the controversy is.
With the legal notice, CPM has closed the chapter. However, the storm in the teacup hasn’t settled within the BJP. P Reghunath, the vice president of the BJP's state branch, has indirectly criticised his party counterpart, Sobha. In a Facebook post, Reghunath asserted that there were no brokers involved in the recruitment of other leaders into the BJP. "It's hard to believe in the existence of such brokers. Such associations are not dignified for public servants," Reghunath noted in his post.
If Reghunath openly criticised Sobha without naming her, it is learnt that discontent is growing within the BJP over Sobha's repeated claims about her unsuccessful attempts to persuade Jayarajan to join the BJP. Although the controversy initially tarnished the image of the CPM, insiders from the BJP suggest that Sobha revealing details of a dispute with a broker will have a more detrimental impact on the BJP's credibility in the long run than on the CPM's.
Some BJP members and right-wing sympathisers are whispering two concerns. First, they believe Sobha should not have been associated with Nandakumar. Second, they argue that she should not have revealed details of Jayarajan's meetings. These individuals suggest that if everything, like in the Jayarajan-Javadekar case, is made public, it could deter leaders of other parties from joining the BJP.
When senior Congress leader AK Antony’s son, Anil K Antony, and K Karunakaran’s daughter, Padmja Venugopal, switched their allegiance from Congress to BJP under the supervision of Javadekar, it came as a surprise even to many leaders within the Kerala BJP faction.
Anil's entry into the BJP was anticipated following his fallout with Indian National Congress leadership, especially Rahul Gandhi. In Padmaja's case, there were only rumors circulating the day before she joined the BJP. It was kept that secretive.
Despite Kerala BJP’s State President K Surendran's claim that he was aware of the updates, many in the media and political circles reportedly mocked him, suggesting that the deals were kept secret and Surendran knew nothing about them.
Now, the Kerala BJP stands exposed as a poaching party in the state's political arena, where 'Aya Ram Gaya Ram' is frowned upon, compelling Javadekar to maintain silence.
The BJP currently lacks both an MP and an MLA in Kerala. In this general election, it hopes to secure victory in at least two seats: Thiruvananthapuram and Thrissur. The middleman who escorted Javadekar to Jayarajan’s house also asserted that a deal was discussed to guarantee BJP’s victory in Thrissur through vote shifting in exchange for shelving the cases against Pinarayi.
Whether a deal was brokered or not remains unclear. We must wait until June 4, when election results are announced, to determine whether BJP Lok Sabha candidate Suresh Gopi will emerge victorious. As mentioned earlier, the CPM has closed the chapter and its cadre will maintain silence. However, the storm within the BJP is unlikely to settle. It will persist until 4 June and possibly even afterwards, depending on Suresh's success in Thrissur.
(Rejimon Kuttappan is an independent journalist, labour migration specialist and author of Undocumented [Penguin 2021]. This is an opinion piece and the views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for them.)
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