‘My revelations about LDF convener talking to BJP show BJP is not untouchable in Kerala’: BJP leader Sobha Surendran

BJP leader Sobha Surendran last week shook up Kerala politics when she claimed that Left Democratic Front (LDF) convener E P Jayarajan held discussions with the party’s top brass and backtracked at the last moment because of threats from his own party, the CPI(M). Earlier, Kerala Congress president K Sudhakaran had claimed the same a day before voting on April 26. Though Surendran’s claims were dismissed by her own party’s Kerala in-charge Prakash Javadekar, Jayarajan confirmed that he had Javadekar at his son’s apartment in Thiruvananthapuram.

In an interview, Surendran, who contested the Lok Sabha elections from Alappuzha, sticks to her claims, saying she revealed the details to counter the Left’s attempts to “malign” her before polling.

Excerpts:

What happened with E P Jayarajan?

There were three rounds of discussions between him and BJP leaders. The BJP has held discussions with several leaders of both the LDF and the UDF (Congress-led United Democratic Front) in Kerala. But I never disclosed the details of such meetings as it is not proper for me as a responsible party leader. In such cases, I always keep the central leadership in the loop in the final stages.

On April 24, two days before polling, there were attempts to level a false allegation against me and Anil Antony (the BJP candidate in Pathanamthitta). This move came after the Congress and CPI(M) realised that I might win. (T G) Nandakumar (self-styled power broker) tried to project the advance he had given me to buy a property as a bribe. I was forced to come out publicly to counter such a move on the eve of polling.

The CM (Pinarayi Vijayan) led the hunting party because I was the one who raised the corruption charges against his daughter and the irregularities