Amit Shah to visit Kerala next month

BJP president Amit Shah would visit Kerala next month to discuss matters relating to expanding the party-led NDA in the state, the party's Kerala president Kummanam Rajasekharan said on Monday. 

BJP is ready to hold talks with any political outfit that accept the NDA's policies, Kummanam told reporters after a meeting of party leaders and MPs in Thiruvananthapuram. The leader said a delegation of BJP MPs would visit Munnar on May 14 where the recent move to remove encroachments on government land triggered a controversy. 

A decision in this regard was taken at a meeting of BJP members, Kummanam pointed out. The delegation would submit a fact-finding report on the encroachments and its effect on environment to Centre. The objective of the visit is to seek "Centre's intervention" on the Munnar encroachment issue, he said. 

The delegation would include Rajya Sabha member Suresh Gopi, Kerala NDA Vice Chairman Rajeev Chandrasekhar, MP, and former union minister and MLA, O Rajagopal, Kummanam said. He alleged that successive governments of LDF and UDF had abetted encroachments in Munnar during their rule. 

Asked about the possibility of Kerala Congress (M), led by former UDF finance minister KM Mani, joining the NDA, Kummanam said: "First, let them come out with their stand." 

KC(M) which snapped its three-decades old ties with the Congress-led UDF last year was keeping distance from both the UDF and the LDF.  Its relation with the UDF soured recently after it joined hands with CPM to wrest the Kottayam district panchayat administration from Congress' control 

Referring to the all-party meet held by the Kerala government to discuss the eviction drive, Kummanam said the meeting should have discussed matters related to providing land to the landless and not for removing encroachments. 

Kummanam said the state government has failed to implement welfare schemes initiated by the Centre, and accused the government of not spending funds allotted by the Centre.

• Amit Shah
• Kerala