Former Congress MP from Kerala’s Kannur, AP Abdullakutty, who was recently expelled by his party for praising PM Narendra Modi, has reportedly confirmed that he will formally join BJP shortly.
AP Abdullakutty met the Prime Minister and Union Home Minister, Amit Shah in New Delhi on Monday. Affirming that his joining the saffron party was almost certain, the former Congress MP after his meeting in Delhi said, “My meetings with both were fruitful. We discussed many things including the prevailing political situation in Kerala. Both welcomed me to the party and I will formally join the BJP within two days.”
“Shah asked me to take membership in BJP immediately. He said he would speak to BJP’s Kerala leadership regarding my entry to the party…. He thanked me for my stand and said the BJP government is going ahead with taking minorities into confidence,’’ Abdullakutty said.
Asserting that the Muslims will have to concentrate more on development rather than on petty issues, he furthered, “Many educated people from the community feel that my entry will help bridge vacuum between the party and the Muslim community. I also feel we have to shed unnecessary reservations and fears vis-à-vis the BJP.”
“The PM said I had to pay a heavy price for speaking truth. And he congratulated me for sticking to my views. I am sure my entry will help improve the community’s ties with the party. I will work hard to remove mutual distrust,” he said.
There have been reports that Abdullakutty is looking to contest the Manjeshwar Assembly seat bypolls as a BJP candidate, which has been necessitated following the demise of IUML MLA, PB Abdul Razak.
Political observers believe that Abdullakutty’s entry will be an advantage to the Bharatiya Janata Party since Manjeshwar has a sizeable Muslim population.
On June 3, the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee has expelled former MP AP Abdullakutty for praising PM Narendra Modi for following Gandhian values in governance in a Facebook post.
The former MP from Kannur, in a Facebook post, praised PM Narendra Modi for the BJP-led NDA’s massive victory in the 019 Lok Sabha election. In the post titled “On Narendra Modi’s impressive victory”, Abdullakutty opinioned that BJP’s victory was the acceptance of Modi’s development agenda.
He said the secret of the PM’s success was that he had adopted Gandhian values. He also hailed the centre’s Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (SBA), which envisages cleaning up India’s cities, towns and rural areas and to eliminate open defecation through construction of household-owned and community-owned toilets.
The Congress party had sought an explanation for his remarks on PM Modi. However, Abdullakutty was sacked after the party president found his explanation unsatisfactory.
However, in response to the expulsion, AP Abdullakutty had then said that it was sad news and that this was expected from the KPCC president Mullappally Ramachandran. He also asserted that he wasn’t an opportunist and had only taken a stand on developmental issues.
