Kerala: BJP faction forms alternative platform

He said both O Rajagopal and Sreedharan Pillai have pledged their support to the new outfit, which claims to have 8220;fighting political decadence8221; as its objective.

Its formation meeting today had a large number of state and district-level leaders attending it, which the official BJP leadership is watching warily. State president Krishna Das said action would be considered if the party felt that was necessary.

The state BJP had been witnessing a simmering turf war between the powerful faction led by the RSS-sponsored section led by state organising secretary PP Mukundan and the old war horses, with the latter successfully getting the national leadership to send away Mukundan to Chennai, before he virtually captured power in the state party through his close followers in the elections a couple of months ago.

Though at least two probes by the party had heaped serious allegations of corruption on Mukundan 8212; selling BJP votes and the Rs 18 crore petrol pump scam in Kerala that The Indian Express exposed a few months ago 8212; the national leadership had refused to take any action against him.