Ahead of Palakkad bypoll, BJP’s Sandeep Varier joins Congress

Ahead of the key bypoll in Palakkad assembly constituency in Kerala, the Congress got a big boost with the induction of Sandeep G Varier, a BJP state committee member and one of its prominent faces on television debates, on Saturday.

Varier, who had been sulking for over two weeks alleging neglect and disrespect by the BJP’s state leadership particularly chief K Surendran, joined the Congress in the presence of state party chief K Sudhakaran, leader of opposition VD Satheesan and party state-in-charge Deepa Das Munsi in Palakkad.

Later, the former firebrand BJP leader campaigned for the Congress candidate Rahul Mamkootathil in the bypoll.

Varier, at a press conference, said that he was neglected within the BJP for taking a stand against the “adjustment politics” of the party with the ruling CPI(M) and chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

“My crime was that I opposed the exchange of help between (BJP and CPM) in Karuvannur and Kodakara cases,” he said. While Karuvannur case involves charges of money laundering and siphoning of public money from a CPM-controlled cooperative bank, Kodakara case refers to the staged theft of a vehicle carrying ₹3.5 crore purportedly having connections to BJP during the 2021 assembly election campaign.

“I have decided to take membership in the shop that sells love,” he said, referring to Rahul Gandhi’s famous ”mohabbat ki dukaan” remark. “I suffer the shame that I worked for so many years in a factory that created and sold hate. The BJP has stooped so low that it is using photos of party martyrs along with the candidate’s photo as it begs for votes. The ordinary workers of that party are being led astray.”

Varier was miffed with the BJP leadership for over a year and recently spoke out publicly against state chief K Surendran and the official party candidate K Krishnakumar. He claimed that he was not given a chair to sit on the stage of the party’s convention in Palakkad and that Krishnakumar had not even turned up at his home when his mother passed away two years ago.

A party firebrand known for making controversial statements, Varier had contested on BJP ticket from the Shoranur Assembly constituency in 2021. He ended up third in that election.

“Sandeep Varier’s induction will create an impact in the upcoming Palakkad bypoll and in future state politics.He has left a shop that sells hate to come into a shop that sells love,” Satheesan said.

At the same time, BJP’s Surendran said Varier’s desertion will not adversely affect BJP at all.

“I wish him well. May he get many more chairs to sit inside the Congress than the BJP,” Surendran mocked.