THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: One of the main campaign planks of the ruling CPM in Kerala against its arch-rival UDF is the exodus of Congress leaders to the BJP fold.“Today’s Congress is tomorrow’s BJP”, is a slogan reverberating in LDF election meetings across 20 Lok Sabha constituencies, to urge voters against electing the UDF candidates. At every meeting, LDF star campaigners list out the names of Congress leaders including 11 former chief ministers, former union ministers, MPs and MLAs who joined the BJP in the last couple of years.They also cite Kerala chief minister Karunakaran’s daughter Padmaja Venugopal’s cross over the BJP urging people not to vote for Congress candidates as they could desert.But amid all this hullabaloo over the mass exodus of Congressmen, the CPM is keeping its fingers crossed over the party’s former MLA who is having a tete with the BJP. The visit of S Rajendran, a three-time CPM MLA from Devikulam reserved constituency in Idukki district of Kerala, to Delhi became the talk of the town in the state on Wednesday.His photograph with Kerala in-charge Prakash Javadekar at the latter’s residence in Delhi sparked off rumours about Rajendran’s impending entry into the BJP. On his return from Delhi though, Rajendran told media persons that it was a courtesy call. He reiterated support for the LDF in the Idukki Lok Sabha constituency. A couple of weeks ago a group of BJP leaders from Kerala and Tamilnadu met Rajendran in Munnar. In January, senior CPM leaders met Rajendran in Thiruvananthapuram and persuaded him to cooperate with the party.While Rajendran took part in the LDF election meeting recently, he has declined to renew his CPM membership. Now his meeting with Javadekar has caught the CPM by surprise.The CPM’s “today’s Congress is tomorrow’s BJP” campaign could lose steam if Rajendran decides to join the BJP on the eve of the crucial Lok Sabha elections.Rajendran, who belongs to a Dalit community, was one of the prominent faces of the CPM in Munnar for the last two decades. His community has a sizable presence in the Munnar belt. Rajendran was suspended by the CPM for allegedly working against party candidate A Raja in the 2021 assembly elections. Rajendran was not reinstated by the party despite the completion of the suspension period. “I have been in public life for 40 years being MLA thrice, district panchayat held important positions in the party. The assurance of state CPM leadership has no impact on a couple of district leaders. They have a strong bias against me and will come up with new allegations to deride me,” Rajendran told DC. Meanwhile, reacting to Rajendran’s meeting with Javadekar in Delhi, Idukki district secretary of CPM C V Varghese said; “there is no bar on anyone to meet leaders of other parties. Since Rajendran has himself clarified about the visit and said that he will work for the LDF, we do not wish to say anything more now.”
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