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Sreedharan Pillai to be Kerala BJP chief

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM APRIL 28. The BJP national council member, P.S. Sreedharan Pillai, emerged as the consensus candidate for the presidentship of the State unit of the BJP at a conference of the State level office-bearers and district presidents of the party here today.

The formal announcement of his election would be made only in July after the completion of the formalities.

An agreement to have consensus candidates for the organisational elections at the district and State level was brokered by the party president, Venkaiah Naidu, and the national leaders, L. Ganesan and P.B. Acharya, at the meeting. Though the name of P.K. Krishnadas was also considered, the broader consensus was for Mr. Pillai who found favour with the outgoing president, C.K. Padmanabhan, also.

The national leaders had intervened for a consensus in view of the groupism that had grown in the party following elections last time. Groups of senior leaders would be formed to assist the choice of consensus candidates at the district level.

Mr. Pillai, who entered politics through the youth wing of the party, has worked as the Kozhikode district secretary of the party and State general secretary. He is a lawyer by profession. Announcing the agreement at the conference to have consensus candidates, Mr. Naidu said the convener of the party's legal cell, C. Rajendran, had been appointed returning officer to complete the election formalities.

Denying serious groupism in the party, he said the health of the State unit was better than that of other parties.

It proposed to strengthen inner party democracy. Consensus was attempted not because elections would expose the weaknesses in party organisation, he said.

Mr. Naidu said the State unit of the party would be working for the formation of a third front in the State.

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