THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Following the miserable defeat in Palakkad, BJP state president K Surendran is blamed for the party’s poor performance. The party has intensified its campaign against the state president. Both Krishnadas and Shobha Surendran factions have intensified their moves. The main decision of those opposing Surendran is to make the vote leakage a topic of discussion despite the state president directly leading the election campaign. Many leaders in the party have already come out against the leadership, both secretly and openly. Senior leader N Sivarajan said the party’s leadership should be strengthened. This is being seen as a sign that a change in leadership is needed. Leaders like B Gopalakrishnan have started publicly criticizing the shortcomings in the organizational system. However, Shobha Surendran has not responded yet.

Despite performing well in Chelakkara, the leadership is being undermined by the fact that it has lost about 10,000 votes in its stronghold Palakkad. Even in the Palakkad municipality, which is in their hands, a major drop was seen in the votes of the BJP. The BJP was firmly confident that it could capture Palakkad, which is considered one of the A-plus constituencies this time. But everything went wrong from the beginning.

Problems started when firebrand leader Shobha Surendan was not given the candidacy. Finally, the collapse was complete when Sandeep Varier quit the party. Those in the opposition camp say the reason for all this is the wrong moves of K Surendran. Soon after the by-election was announced in the constituency, BJP leader N Sivarajan made a statement before the announcement of the candidate that victory was certain if Shobha Surendran was the candidate. However, after the party announced C Krishna Kumar as the candidate, the differences of opinion became evident. Shobha Surendran's absence from the candidate's electioneering was also a topic of discussion.

Surendran was criticized for his mismanagement over Sandeep Varier leaving the party and joining the Congress just before the polls. Many consider it an immature decision to abandon a popular leader like Sandeep Varier despite an important election for the party. There is also strong criticism that Surendran has not been able to mature despite being at the forefront for a long time.

C Krishna Kumar became the candidate as Surendran's nominee. Surendran directly controlled the campaign. He went to Chelakkara for only a day or two and focused his entire time on Palakkad. He held multiple press conferences in most places. But, none of that turned into votes. The leadership is also concerned that leaders, including councilors in Palakkad, will leave the party out of sympathy for Sandeep Varier. The majority in the party is of the view that if Shobha had been the candidate, this would not have been the result.