The issue of a possible re-entry for BJP’s former State organising secretary P.P. Mukundan may be kept in the party backburner until after the local bodies’ poll.
Senior BJP leader O. Rajagopal hinted on it in Kozhikode when he stridently declined to comment on the issue. “It is an internal matter and there is no need to discuss it on the eve of the poll. Don’t put me in trouble,” he said.
Mr. Mukundan’s speculated return had gained some traction after he gave an interview to a Malayalam television channel saying he was willing to ‘‘take up any role the Central leadership may assign.” This had fetched a caustic repartee from BJP State president V. Muraleedharan, that he had no clue if Mr. Mukundan had again obtained a party membership via the SMS facility that the party had launched.
Mr. Mukundan was in the race for the State party chief’s post in 2011, but had to withdraw his nomination after the RSS backed Mr. Muraleedharan, then its vice president.
Except national executive member Shobha Surendran, none of the party leaders have openly supported Mr. Mukundan on his re-induction. Speculation was rife about his return on the eve of the Lok Sabha elections last year when the BJP Parliamentary Board picked Narendra Modi as its head.
However Mr. Mukundan’s accommodation in the party was put on hold as the RSS State leadership, which had been at loggerheads with the BJP State unit then, maintained a silence. Mr. Mukundan is the only leader from the State considered to be close to Mr. Modi, who was the national secretary (organisation) of the party more than a decade ago.
Later, a powerful lobby within the RSS State leadership clipped Mr. Mukundan’s wings, almost throwing him out of State politics. However, sources insist the situation is different now with the RSS favouring him.
