The BJP Kerala unit has on Monday announced the names of party’s office bearers for the district- and booth-level committees with a higher representation for women, youth, Christians, Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) and backward-class communities in top organisational posts.

The presidents of the 27 organizational districts of the BJP in the state have been announced. Four of them are women and three are from the Christian community. BJP’s women district presidents in Kerala are: M L Aswani in Kasaragod, Deepa Puzhakkal in Malappuram, Nivedida Subrahmanian in Thrissur West, and Raji Prasad in Kollam. The three Christian district presidents are Justin Jacob in Thrissur City, Roy Chacko in Kottayam East, and V C Varghese in Idukki South. As a part of party reorganisation, the BJP has split some districts into different district committees.

Advertisement

While selecting 269 constituency presidents, the BJP considered 34 women leaders. 14 are from the Christian community. 32 constituency presidents were also selected from the SC and ST communities.

At a press conference in Thrissur, BJP State president K Surendran said on Monday that the party’s nominees for district and booth committee presidents are relatively young in age. He said the BJP would also have Muslims in leadership positions. He said that the party formed its committees in more than 18,000 booths across the state.

“About 30 per cent of the booth committees are led by women, which is something only BJP can do and be proud of. We have given the opportunity to four women leaders to serve as the district party presidents, we appointed three Christian leaders to serve as the district presidents. How many DCC (District Congress Committees) leaders are women leaders? How many CPI-M district secretaries are mahila leaders,” he asked.

“Out of 269 constituency committees of BJP, 34 will be led by women, a revolutionary step, when compared to the presence of women in key positions in other political parties in Kerala,” Surendran said .

Further, 14 from the Christian community, and 32 from Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes, are included in the constituency committees, he added .

He said the party has decided to split some districts into different district committees as part of strengthening the party’s activities, taking into consideration population and geographical aspects.

“BJP has prepared a list that has given due consideration to the downtrodden, backward, religious minorities and women in the society.The youth were also given representation in the party. Three people below the age of 40 were elected as district presidents. There is no lower age limit for becoming a leader in the BJP,” Surendran said

Meanwhile, the rift within the BJP’s Palakkad district unit in Kerala over the selection of Prashanth Sivan as the Palakkad district president, has been resolved. The RSS leadership played a crucial role in resolving the dispute.On Sunday,nine councilors in the Palakkad municipal council, including the municipal chairperson, vice-chairperson and a national council member, have informed that they would resign if Prasanth Sivan is made district president. Municipal Chairperson Prameela Sasidharan and other rebel councilors on Monday reaffirmed their commitment to the party and ruled out any plans to resign.