Former Congress lawmaker AP Abdullakutty who joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in June this year was on Tuesday appointed as the vice-president of the BJP in Kerala.
This was announced here in the state capital by state BJP president PS Sreedharan Pillai who said the appointment has been made following a directive from the national party leadership. Former AISF vice president KA Bahuleyan has been appointed as the state secretary of the party, he added. Sreedharan Pillai also said that the party expects to have impressive results in the bye-elections held in the state on Monday.
Abdullakutty, 52, who has also been a former member of the ruling CPI(M), began his political career with the Student Federation of India, CPI(M)'s student wing. He came into prominence by defeating current Kerala Congress chief Mullapally Ramachandran twice - in 1999 and 2004 - from the Kannur Lok Sabha seat.
In 2009, the CPI(M) sacked him from the party amid mounting differences and also because he praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Gujarat development model when the latter was the Chief Minister of the state.
Abdullakutty won the Kannur Assembly by-election in 2009 as a Congress candidate and repeated his victory in 2011, but in 2016, lost the polls from the Thalassery seat.
Abdullakutty has also been in one of the biggest controversies of the state, surrounding the solar scam. Saritha S Nair, the prime accused in the solar scam that shook the Congress-led Ooommen Chandy government, came out with sexual harassment complaints against Abdullakutty. The police even booked him for alleged sexual harassment.
He has been keeping a distance from the Congress, and in June this year, he joined the BJP describing himself as a "nationalist Muslim".
"This new appointment is a huge responsibility that has been bestowed on me. The BJP has a bright future in Kerala and will now be here always," Abdullakutty said.