BJP national leadership backs Kerala state chief, despite Palakkad loss

The Bharatiya Janata Party national leadership unequivocally supported Kerala state president K Surendran, putting an end to speculations about resignations and reshuffling in the southern state unit. The announcement became a significant development, in the wake of the party’s loss in the recent Palakkad assembly seat by-election.
Senior BJP leader and the party’s Kerala in-charge Prakash Javadekar, in a post on X said: “BJP has given a good fight in recently concluded by-elections in Kerala… We will win Palakkad and many more assembly seats in 2026.”
Clearing all doubts regarding any imminent sacking, Javadekar wrote in the post: “LDF and UDF are spreading rumours. Nobody is resigning; neither party has sought anybody’s resignation. I think this will settle the matter.”
Responding to local media speculating about Surendran’s resignation as state president, Javadekar, in a separate post, called it “absurd” and expressed his amazement at the logic behind the argument. He said: “With this logic, Pinarayi Vijayan has to resign after LDF defeat in elections… With the same logic, Congress president, Mallikarjun Kharge has to resign after losing elections in Maharashtra and Haryana.This is absurd.”
The BJP leader accused the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the Congress-led United Democratic Front of “spreading rumours”.
Javadekar also rejected reports that Surendran expressed a willingness to quit, taking moral responsibility for the defeat in Palakkad, considered to be one of BJP’s strongholds in Kerala.
Palakkad was poised for a BJP win, with the constituency boasting over 70 per cent Hindu voters, along with BJP ruling the municipal corporation there.
The national spokesperson claimed that over 15 lakh voters became BJP members “voluntarily” and asserted that BJP’s “membership drive will continue vigorously”.
Javadekar’s X post came amidst media reports that Palakkad defeat triggered widespread dissent against Surendran within the party.
Surendran’s critics accused him of unilaterally deciding to field his preferred candidate, C Krishnakumar for the seat, instead of the more popular leader Sobha Surendran. In protest, another prominent local leader Sandeep G Varier resigned and joined the Congress just before the by-election.
Krishakumar lost to Congress’s Rahul Mamkootathil by 18,840 votes. In the 2021 state assembly elections, BJP’s E ‘Metro Man’ Sreedharan lost to Shafi Parambil by 3,859 votes. Adding to the saffron party’s challenges, the Left narrowed its vote-share margin, with P Sarin losing by 2,256 votes.
This was Krishakumar’s fourth consecutive defeat. In the 2024 Palakkad Lok Sabha election, he came in third behind Congress’s VK Sreekandan who won the seat, and CPI(M)’s A Vijayaraghavan. In 2021, he lost the Malampuzha assembly seat to CPI(M)’s A Prabhakaran. In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, too, he came in third.