Kerala BJP leader Sandeep Varier joins Congress

Palakkad (Kerala): Ahead of the November 20 Palakkad Assembly bypoll, dissident Kerala BJP leader Sandeep G Varier on Saturday joined Congress.

Congress leaders including KPCC chief K Sudhakaran and Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan welcomed him by draping shawls at the grand old party's office here.

"I am taking a membership in the shop of love," Sandeep told reporters at a press conference along with Congress leaders here.

He said that the mistake he made was expecting support and love from an organisation that has consistently fostered only hate.

He claimed that BJP state president K Surendran was the reason behind his exit from the saffron party.

"K Surendran and his team are the sole reason I joined Congress", he said.

He said that he left the party because he was frustrated with the constant compromises between the BJP leadership and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

He further stated that the BJP abandoned him for opposing the Karuvannur co-operative bank scam.

The idea of Congress is the idea of India, he added.

The BJP came second at Palakkad in the 2021 and 2016 assembly elections. In 2021 'Metro man' E Sreedharan, who was the BJP candidate, lost to Congress's Shafi Parambil by only 3,859 votes.

Meanwhile, BJP state president K Surendran responded that Varier's exit would not make any impact on the party.

Earlier this month, Varier announced his decision not to campaign for BJP candidate, C Krishnakumar.

Varier raised a banner of protest, stating that he felt "humiliated" and consistently ignored by the party, even in campaign events for the by-election.

The Election Commission postponed the Palakkad Assembly bypoll from November 13 to November 20, citing the Kalpathi Ratholsavam festival.

The bypoll was necessitated after the Congress MLA of the constituency, Shafi Parambil, got elected to the Lok Sabha from the Vadakara constituency.